Betrayal From Within
by CoyoteLoon
Summary: (Cluster Dawn, Part One) Queen Vexus and her warriors make plans to add Earth to the Cluster Empire. Their newest weapon could be just the tool to finally capture Jenny - and exact some revenge on an accidental android. (complete)
1. Dreams of Galactic Empire

All characters from "My Life as a Teenage Robot" are property of Rob Renzetti and the fine, upstanding people at Nickelodeon.  There are _some_ characters in this story who are my creation.  The major one is Drew, a human high school student who was turned into an android by Cluster nanotechnology.  That happened in the first MLaaTR fanfic I wrote, "Android Scam."  "Stanley" is a minor but important character; he's the super-genius who developed the Cluster nanobots which transformed Drew.

Before we get started, I again want to thank all the good folks out there who've read my previous stories and left reviews.  It's not an exaggeration to say that if nobody reviewed, I would have stopped writing long ago.  I know it sounds corny, but I do appreciate every single comment.  Thank you all.

This is the first entry in what will be a pretty ambitious trio of stories called the "Cluster Dawn Trilogy."  The stories will be a little more serious, and I'll be bumping the ratings up to PG for all of them.  Be warned; regular readers know that I can get a little wordy.  I try to make sure every chapter's only as long as it needs to be, to get the important story elements across.  However, don't be surprised if these stories hit 40K words.  (Heck, I guarantee the second installment will be close to 60K.)

One last note, on continuity:  for the sake of argument, assume that all the events in this trilogy take place before the start of MLaaTR's second season.  Hopefully, there won't be any major curveballs in the new episodes that mess up the plotline.  So without further ado:

* * *

BETRAYAL FROM WITHIN

Part One of the Cluster Dawn Trilogy

A "My Life as a Teenage Robot" Fanfic

Chapter One – Dreams of Galactic Empire

* * *

The towering robotic monster flung one of its four metallic claws towards the ground with terrifying force.  With an ear-splitting crash, it blasted an oval-shaped crater into the middle of the four-lane highway, sending misshapen chunks of earth and asphalt raining over an area the size of a football field.  Highway signs and billboards ripped from their foundations, and sailed through the air like discarded pages of newspaper.  Cars, trucks, and buses swerved madly to avoid the eighty-foot colossus; one wrong step, one swipe of its mighty claws, would easily have crushed any vehicle, and all those within.  That had not happened yet; mainly because the giant robot simply didn't care about the insignificant little vehicles, filled with disgusting organic lifeforms.  It was attacking something else.

Curving through the air with blinding speed, barely perceptible to the unaided eye, a thin pair of pale-blue exhaust plumes frustrated every assault of the giant insectoid machine.  They traced a maddening pattern of twists and zigzags around the giant beast, taunting it with their speed and agility.  The colossus lunged and swung a few more times, embarrassing itself with wild, haymaker punches that struck nothing.  Finally, it grew tired of the chase, and deployed a pair of powerful laser cannons, mounted on the ends of antennae rising from the back of its neck.  It tracked its diminutive prey for a few seconds, then grinned confidently, and locked on to take a shot …

When the blue exhaust-trails performed an impossible ninety-degree turn in mid-air, streaked around behind the giant, and rammed it in the small of the back.  The huge robotic insect lurched forward, stunned and off-balance, as if it had been struck by a mountain.  It fell face-first towards four lanes of clogged traffic.  Dozens of cars were about to be flattened beneath its imposing bulk.  But then the pale blue streaks made a full loop, and struck the giant again, right in the middle of its chest.  The crushing blow launched it into the air, away from the highway.  The eighty-foot robot crashed to the ground, its body digging a deep trench in the earth.

As the gargantuan insect creaked and groaned in its smoking ditch, the pale-blue exhaust trails came to a screeching halt in mid-air, revealing – a smaller robot, a little over six feet tall, smiling down at her attacker.  She was painted in muted tones of white and pale blue, was of roughly feminine humanoid form – with exhaust plumes coming from her _pigtails_.  She held her hand up to her forehead, and extended her finger and thumb at right angles – to form the shape of the letter "L".

"Loo-oo-ser!" she laughed, with a twinkling of mischief in her eyes.

A thin scowl crept across Queen Vexus' cruel face as she watched the live signal, from the comfort of her palace thousands of light-years away.  Her eyes narrowed to a pair of yellow slits, softly glowing against the flickering light from the giant video screen.  She drummed her severely curled fingers lightly against her left forearm, filling the palace war room with a faint clicking sound to signal her displeasure.  Then she slowly pivoted on her jagged heels, turning to face a dozen robot warriors gathered in a semi-circle around her.  Each one of them was a great champion in his own right, with dozens of battles and victories to his name.  Each one was highly decorated, bore numerous titles, and held high rank in the Cluster armed forces.  And each one was quivering with fear under the gaze of their almighty queen.

"I seem to remember somebody guaranteeing me," she said in her frigid, measured voice, "that if we sent the Mega-Ant robot to Earth, it would defeat XJ-9, and capture her for the glory of the Cluster."  She calmly gestured to the image of the young robot girl flitting about on the giant video screen.  "I cannot help but notice that she appears to be very un-defeated and un-captured at the moment."

One of the twelve-foot warrior robots, clad in dull bronze and yellow armor, took a halting half-step forward.  "Your Majesty, I beg your patience … the battle has just begun.  See, look at the screen."  He pointed hopefully, as the giant robot stirred from its groove in the earth, and rose to a sitting position.  "The Mega-Ant is the mightiest Cluster warrior ever constructed!  He can topple buildings, level cities, crush entire armies!  He certainly cannot be defeated by a mere teenager."

"XJ-9 is no mere teenager, Commander Grimbus," Vexus growled impatiently.  "And that is exactly the reason why I desire for her to join us, and become one with the Cluster."

On the giant monitor, the Mega-Ant got to its titanic feet, just in time to be met with a crack of thunder and a screech of white-hot laser fire from the robot girl's arm, which had converted into a massive cannon barrel twice the length of her body.  Another pair of laser blasts slammed into the Mega-Ant's chest, charring away a large section of its thick armor, and leaving a sparking, sputtering wound.  The Mega-Ant paused and braced itself against a transmission tower, using the steel latticework like a mammoth crutch.  Smoke poured from the gaping wound in its chest, as its power generators began to fail.

The bronze warrior robot twitched his antennae nervously, watching the giant ant stumble once again under the onslaught of its teen opponent.  It had been his suggestion, his idea, to send the Mega-Ant on this mission, and now his mechanical mind raced to think of a way to cover his robotic butt.  "Er, Your Highness … it _is_ proving rather difficult to capture the young robot girl.  Perhaps it would be more efficient to simply destroy her … and the planet Earth as well.  It would be a simple task for our fleet to accomplish.  Then nothing would stand in the way of your grand plan, yes?"

Queen Vexus silently glared at Commander Grimbus for a few seconds that seemed like hours, her eyes fixed on him as if she could will him to burst into flame.  Then, suddenly, she calmly trotted away from her assembled warriors, turning her back to the video screen even as XJ-9 and the Mega-Ant continued their battle.  She walked towards a large, circular table with a polished glass top.

She waved her crooked hand over an illuminated control panel, and the air above the table blazed into a pinwheel of colored light.  The foggy images coalesced into a detailed model of the Milky Way galaxy, hovering a few feet above the table.  With another hand motion, the hologram was marked up with borders and labels; almost half the galaxy was shaded in a drab green, the background color of the Cluster flag, denoting the Empire's territory.

Vexus pointed to a dense gathering of stars, filled with fat, glowing purple spheres, like plump berries.  "There are three dozen civilizations in this part of the galaxy – all of them, prime targets for my Cluster armies.  They have highly advanced technology, their star systems are abundant in resources, and they employ billions – perhaps trillions – of robots, in every part of their societies.  With those worlds at our disposal, the Cluster would become a truly unstoppable force.  But, sadly, the robots of those planets live in peace with their organic masters.  They foolishly resist us."

Her finger traced through the ghostly image, until it came to rest on a tiny blue dot.  "The key to conquering those three dozen worlds lies in attacking them from a different direction, and toppling them one by one.  And that is the ultimate goal of our grand plan, Operation Cluster Dawn.  To achieve that, we must establish a large base, a military colony, from which to launch our assault.  Commander Grimbus, would you care to guess what one, sniveling little speck of a planet just happens to be hanging in the perfect spot for our needs?"

Grimbus shrank under the gaze of every pair of eyes in the room.  "E-earth, Your Majesty?"

Vexus smiled, sarcastically.  "So it would probably be a bad idea to destroy it then, wouldn't it?"

"Y-y-yes, Your Majesty."

The queen shook her head at him, condescendingly.  "Earth is a relatively primitive planet with ample resources and a population of filthy human savages.  It should be a simple matter to enslave them all, and put them to work for their robotic superiors.  It should be, except for _one_ little thing."

She folded her arms, and turned back towards the giant video screen.  Back on Earth, the robot girl had maneuvered herself to grab the very tip of the claw on the Mega-Ant's massive arm.  Then in seeming defiance of the laws of physics, she heaved with unimaginable strength, and the Cluster robot's feet lurched off the ground.  XJ-9 snapped her opponent's wrist with a vicious twist, executing a perfect judo toss, and the Mega-Ant performed a stunning two-hundred foot loop through the air.  It slammed into the earth once more, looking more disoriented with every passing second.

"Jenny, Jenny, Jenny," Vexus mumbled to herself, "why must you make this so difficult?"

She turned to address her assembled warriors.  "XJ-9 is the most powerful robot on Earth, and she has sworn to protect its human population.  She foolishly longs to be accepted as an equal among them.  We all know that robots and humans can never be equal.  Robots are innately superior, and naturally should be in charge.  Anything else is a tragic injustice."  A chorus of agreement came from the warriors, as they nodded their heads in unison.

"True, that teenage robot is the single greatest obstacle to our conquest of Earth," continued the queen.  "But where you see only an obstacle, I see an opportunity.  If she is powerful enough to protect the planet, then she is powerful enough to rule it.  And that is why I want her; that is why she must become part of the Cluster.  With XJ-9 ruling over the human population, our fleets can use Earth as a base to dominate the entire sector.  Every inhabited world in the galaxy will fall before our might.  And then we shall usher in a bright new dawn for all robot-kind.  A Galactic Cluster Empire – over which I shall reign supreme!"

Like trained seals, the large robotic warriors applauded their queen's rant, until the stern glare from her large eyes warned them to quiet down.  Then she gestured to the video screen once more.  An edge came to her voice; it made her sound even more dangerous than usual.

"Grimbus, your ridiculous Mega-Ant is mere minutes away from defeat.  Operation Cluster Dawn is only ten days away.  I will _not_ tolerate any delays; ten days from now, our task force will launch for Earth's Solar System.  Earth _will_ become the newest colony of the Great Cluster Empire.  And I intend to have XJ-9 assimilated and installed as its queen ..."

Vexus studied the expressions of her warriors, with a twinge of disapproval in her face.  "… provided that at least _one_ of my mighty Commanders is capable of besting a teenage girl in combat."

A large, wide shouldered robot stepped forward, his triangular-shaped torso striped with a mix of deep green and olive drab.  He thrust his proud head upwards, extending his single antenna like a majestic horn, and let his massive wings slide out from his body to enlarge his profile.  "Your Majesty, I would consider it a great honor if you would allow me to capture her for you!"  His voice was full of pomp and arrogance, and it was obvious that he thought highly of himself.  "No mere teenager can stand against me," he continued, through an odd gap-toothed grin.  "For I am a true soldier, a Cluster champion!  I am Lord of the Outer Rings, Mayor of Moonrobia, Capo of the Crab Nebula … and Destroyer of Worlds!!!"

Two crimson warriors exchanged a quick glance between themselves, and couldn't suppress a quick eye-roll.  "Oh, brother," one chuckled to the other.

Queen Vexus ignored the comment, and seemed pleased as she twirled one of her long, curlicue eyelashes with a single finger.  "Boastful words, Commander.  Tell me … er … Smittius, is it?"

"_Smytus_, Your Majesty," he replied, bowing his head.

"Ah, of course, Commander Smytus," smiled the queen.  "You just returned to active duty after a rather lengthy stay in the repair shops, I believe."

"Correct, Your Majesty … and I am eager to prove my worth to you, as your loyal and obedient servant … as I once more lead my forces into battle to further the glory of the Empire!"  He punched the air melodramatically, eliciting another wave of eye-rolls from his fellow commanders.  It was obvious that Smytus enjoyed hearing himself talk a lot more than the rest of the group did.

"_Hmmmm_."  Vexus tilted her head, and cupped her hand to her chin.  She demanded obedience and respect, but she did not think highly of brown-nosers.  "If memory serves, Smytus, you did battle against XJ-9, on Earth, during your last mission – when you were sent to retrieve the Pip crystals.  And you didn't fare too well, did you?  The crystals were lost, and you returned to us in a rather … _diminished_ condition.  You were _three inches tall_."

Smytus tugged at his chest plate.  "Yes ... er … an unforeseen side effect of the crystals, Your Majesty."

The two crimson warrior robots chuckled to each other again.  "I heard he got his butt kicked by a pair of scrawny human schoolgirls."

Smytus growled at them.  "This time it will be different, I swear on my honor as a warrior!  I was handling XJ-9 just fine until those crystals … _complicated_ things.  This time, it will be just me, and XJ-9.  This time there will be _no_ distractions!  I _shall_ have my revenge!"

He turned his attention back to the large video screen, studying his opponent.  The fierce battle between XJ-9 and the Mega-Ant was still raging.  The giant Cluster machine had taken a pounding from the smaller, quicker teenage girl.  Huge slices had been taken out of its massive chest, a laser antenna had been sliced off, and two of its giant claws had been crushed like wads of tinfoil.  But the Mega-Ant still had a few surprises left.  It opened its mandibles wide, and unleashed a sonic disruptor attack.  Pounding waves of sound energy slammed into XJ-9's body, sending her tumbling through the air like an autumn leaf.  The Mega-Ant seized its opportunity, summoned its reserves, and channeled its energy to its remaining laser blasters …

When it suddenly, and unexpectedly, stopped and shifted its attention to its left foot.  The Cluster warriors watched in confusion as the Mega-Ant began to stomp its foot on the ground; it was as if the gargantuan robot's leg had fallen asleep.  And _now_ the Mega-Ant looked to be performing some kind of bizarre dance; it was trying to balance on its right leg, while it shook its left leg in a panic.  Smytus stared at the video screen, trying to make sense of what he was seeing.

Then he saw movement around the giant robot's ankle.  A bizarre shimmering effect, glistening in the sunlight … it looked as if the Mega-Ant's foot was being coated in a silvery syrup.  The giant insectoid robot stomped his foot a few more times – then to the amazement of the observers, the foot simply came loose, and the eighty-foot robot crashed to the ground.  The surface of the severed foot had a most bizarre appearance; it almost looked like it was _melting_.  Ribbons of silvery-green paste dribbled down its sides, collecting into a puddle by the heel.

"What in Cog's name is _that_?" puzzled Smytus, sneering at the video screen.

"Ah yes, now, that would be … a _distraction_," said an unseen voice.

Heads turned as another robot advanced from the side of the room.  A short, bulbous, rather absurd looking fellow, he was barely over four feet tall, and almost all of it was head.  He sped over next to Smytus on his one single wheel, and folded four of his six arms behind his barrel-shaped body.  Then he bowed low towards Queen Vexus.  "With your permission, Your Majesty?"

Vexus acknowledged his bow, and he continued.  "That misshapen mass of silver goo is my greatest scientific achievement … and my greatest personal embarrassment."

"And just who are you supposed to be?" Smytus snorted down to the squat, red robot.

He seemed perturbed by the question.  "Who am I?  _Who am I?_  I am the most highly evolved robotic intelligence known to the galaxy!  My name is written in a quantum language that is beyond the abilities of your obsolete electronic brain to fathom!  Translating it would shatter the primitive ideas of what you call mathematics, and science, and reality itself!!! … but, everybody calls me Stanley."

Vexus drummed her fingers impatiently.  "Focus, please."

"Sorry, Your Majesty," said Stanley, ignoring Smytus' glare.  He gestured once more to the video screen.  They could see that a large puddle of silvery molasses had gathered next to the fallen Mega-Ant, and it was beginning to rise into the air.  A shimmering pillar of liquid grew about six feet high, and gradually morphed and molded itself … until it took the form of a teenage boy, covered in a patchwork of light and dark grays, interleaved with green zigzagging stripes.

"What you see on the screen is an android, composed entirely of Cluster nanotechnology," explained Stanley, "a liquid swarm of trillions and trillions of little tiny nanobots, all working together to make with the sloshing and slurping and the smooshing.  The android can change its shape, grow crude weapons, interface with electronic equipment, and regenerate itself by devouring raw materials.  Really quite the amazing little bag of tricks, if you ask me!"

"Yes, except for one little snag, scientist," said the queen.  "You lost control of it."

Stanley recoiled from the queen's reminder of his failure, and continued his presentation.  "Umm, yes, that's correct, Your Majesty … heh-heh, after all, it is an experimental technology, and we did run into some control problems with the little dickens.  The nanobot android now has a mind of its own; a human mind even, and it seems to be resistant to Cluster control signals ..."

Smytus still wasn't sure _what_ he thought of the strange silver android; he had never seen anything quite like it before in his career.  From the way it stumbled around clumsily on the video screen, he could hardly believe it represented a threat.

"… but those flaws have been corrected in Version Two," said Stanley.

From the corner of the Royal War Room, two roach-drones carried forward a large orange barrel.  It was covered with bold red markings, identifying it as being from the Research and Development department, and that it was Classified Top Secret – Level Nine.  They set the heavy barrel down, bowed to the queen, and left the room.

Stanley wheeled over to the orange barrel, and entered a complex code on a numbered keypad.  There was a loud click and hiss of air, as a lock released, and the top of the barrel pivoted open with a faint motorized hum.  Then the squat genius-robot braced his six arms against the side of the barrel, and after a few seconds of effort, it tipped over.

The Cluster Warrior Commanders took a few uneasy steps backwards, as a river of silvery paste gushed out of the overturned barrel.  It spread into a large shimmering puddle, rippling with waves of motion and activity, pulsing with flecks of glowing reddish-yellow.  The silver-red puddle bubbled in place for a few seconds – then suddenly a shiny pillar surged upwards from the middle of the liquid, covered with softly glowing red stripes.  The shiny blob oozed and stretched itself, as if some phantom were working a lump of modeling clay; the pillar sprouted arms, and legs, and long, curved face.  Then, with a final quick shimmer to smooth out its surface, a silver android stood in the middle of the War Room, covered in red zigzagging stripes.  Its body was svelte and streamlined, hinting to the slippery nature of its essence.  It had a tapered, insectoid head with two soulless eyes and a pair of silver antennae; its arms and legs flared out to conclude in multifunction claws.  Then a flash of reddish-orange leapt from its eyes, and a synthesized voice spoke from an unseen mouth.

"Systems startup complete.  Android OS 3000 is on-line.  Awaiting instructions."

Stanley thrust his chassis out with pride.  "Queen Vexus, honored military-type guests, I give you next generation of Cluster nanotechnology … the Omni-droid."

Smytus harrumphed with disgust, unimpressed.  "And what exactly is _that_ supposed to be?"

Vexus simply smiled back at Commander Smytus.  "Why … he's your cargo."

Smytus blinked in surprise.  "_Cargo?_  I don't understand.  What am I supposed to do with this …"

"You said that you wanted a chance to prove your worth to me?" interrupted the queen.  "Well, I am giving you that chance, Commander.  Your mission is to take a light cruiser to transport the scientist and the Omni-droid to Earth, penetrate the defenses and avoid detection, and unleash our newest weapon on the unsuspecting human populace.  I want you to sow the seeds of chaos and disorder, to soften up Earth's defenses before the arrival of our grand attack fleet.  And most importantly, I want to you to capture XJ-9.  She must become a member of the Cluster before the fleet arrives.  The Omni-droid boasts an impressive suite of talents, Smytus.  It should be more than enough to accomplish these goals."

"Wait a minute … so I'm just transporting this … this ball of silver slime to Earth like a common delivery boy?"  Smytus bristled at the implied insult.  "I have no need of this scientist and his ridiculous toy!  Smytus is a warrior, not a cargo pilot!  I cannot …"

Vexus interrupted him again, but this time with a gleam of crimson glowing in her eyes.  "I'm sorry, Commander Smytus, I must have misheard you.  It almost sounded like you were questioning a _direct order_ from your queen and supreme commander."  She walked a few paces towards him, her eyes drilling into his vanishing bravado, until she stood mere inches from his face.  "Would you mind saying that again?"

Commander Smytus pasted a huge grin on his face in record time.  "As I said before, Your Majesty, it is an honor for this humble soldier to carry out his Queen's wishes!  I shall gather my crew together, and we'll be on our way to Earth within the hour."

"Much better," smiled Vexus.

Smytus snuck over closer to the bizarre silver-red android, as Stanley wheeled around it, taking readings from a handheld scanning device.  While most of the other Cluster warriors circled around the Omni-droid,  Vexus turned her attention once more to the waning moments of the battle back on Earth.  XJ-9 was flying in circles around the staggering Mega-Ant, with giant buzzsaws deployed from her wrists.  Every swooping pass by the teenager sliced off another piece of the giant robot.  Its four claws, then its arms, collapsed into a pile of lifeless scrap, joined by the remainder of its legs.  Finally, only a pathetic, quivering torso lay on the ground.  XJ-9 deployed a fantastically large mallet from her arm, and with a huge roundhouse swing, she flattened its insectoid head into a giant steel pancake.  Beaming with pride, she dropped to the ground on her twin-pigtail jets, landing next to her silver-green android friend.

A dark expression fell over Queen Vexus' face.  "Commander Smytus, Stanley … one final thought."

Suddenly a glowing violet light began to grow in the dim confines of the palace war room.  The warriors shrunk back, as they realized that the light was coming from arcs of energy crackling between the antennae of Queen Vexus herself.  A high-pitched, shrieking whine filled the war room, and the electrical arcs built in intensity, until a blinding sphere of violet-white energy formed over the queen's head.  Then she turned to Commander Grimbus, the author of the Mega-Ant plan.  A flash of realization came across his robotic face, and he just had time to open his mouth to beg for mercy …

When a searing bolt of disintegrator energy leapt from the tips of Vexus' antennae, plunging into the middle of Grimbus' bronze chest plate.  The room was bathed in demonic, strobing shadows as Grimbus flailed his arms in agony.  His form was outlined in a pulsing aura of light, and then it vanished, like a ghost disappearing into a midnight fog.

The remaining warriors looked on uneasily.  All that remained of Grimbus was a pile of ash and metal flakes, and a column of gray smoke drifting into the air.

"You two have already failed me once, in your attempts to defeat XJ-9," said Vexus, in a cold, threatening voice.  "Please understand how very fortunate you are to be given a second chance."

A tiny gulp squeaked out of Smytus' throat.  "Y-y-yes, Your Majesty.  I understand completely.  You can rest assured, XJ-9 will soon be a member of the Cluster.  Er … what about her little silver-green friend?"

The queen rubbed her right forearm, remembering an old injury, and bared her teeth.  "Annihilate it."

* * *

Continued in Chapter Two  /  Ten Days to Cluster Dawn

* * *


	2. Jenny's Fifteen Minutes

A/N – Thanks to everyone for the reviews, and the enthusiasm for the trilogy.  And to red52, I'd just like to say – thanks for the Bruce Campbell reference!  Groovy.  8-)

* * *

Betrayal From Within

A "My Life as a Teenage Robot" Fanfic

Chapter Two – Jenny's Fifteen Minutes

* * *

A crowd of people had gathered around the wide front steps of Tremorton City Hall, jostling for the best viewing positions for the upcoming ceremony.  Intermixed with local media and politicians, there was a little over three hundred average citizens who had taken time out of their day to be there.  It was a very impromptu ceremony, with little decoration save for a standard red, white and blue bunting in front of the mayor's speaking podium.  The whole ceremony would probably not last more than fifteen minutes, and most of that would be speeches.  But still, the mood was upbeat and jovial, and with little else of interest happening on a Monday afternoon, the crowd began to attract curious passers-by.  And since City Hall wasn't that far away from Mezmer's, even some Tremorton High students were drifting over, on their way to some after-school relaxation.

Brad had already been there for a while; he'd come over straight from school.  And to his pleasant surprise, the attractive girl from his History class was also there, shuffling aimlessly next to a large water fountain, playing with her wavy blonde hair.  They'd been exchanging flirty glances and playful banter for about a week.  Brad rubbed his hands together eagerly; this looked like a prime opportunity for action.  He glanced at his watch; it was still five minutes to four.  Plenty of time for the ol' Bradster to work his mojo.  He quickly checked his black vest, removed a few flecks of lint, and smoothed out his shirttails.

"Hey there, Chloe," he said, flashing one of the most charming smiles in all of Tremorton.  "Trying to deep-six your History homework?"

That got a laugh out of her.  "Hey there Brad," she giggled.  "I'm pretty sure Mrs. Jefferson would just give me twice as much tomorrow.  I was headed over to Mezmer's with a few friends, saw the crowd, and thought I'd check things out for a minute.  Are you going to Mezmer's too?"

He recognized from her tone that it was an invitation, not a question.  _Gotta love it when the fish jump into the boat all by themselves._  Well, general consensus among the girls of Tremorton High was that Brad was cute (the word "hottie" had been tossed around), he enjoyed a certain degree of popularity, and was well thought of, because it didn't go to his head.  He grinned back at Chloe, enjoying "the game", admiring the sparkles that danced in her eyes.  "Well, if I wasn't before, I am now.  I think they have the new Acid Reflux album playing on the jukebox."

"Oh, I love those guys!  They _so_ rock!"  She grabbed him by the arm, and started to drag him away from the crowd.  "C'mon, we can head on over before it gets too full.  It'll be more … _private_ that way."

_Wow, a blind man could pick up these signals._  And he _had_ heard through the grapevine that Chloe was crushing on him.  But Brad was at City Hall for a reason.  "Relax!  There's gonna be plenty of time to hang out after this ceremony is over.  I don't want to miss it."

"So what's the big deal?  Do you know what's going on here?"

"Yeah, the city is _finally_ giving Jenny some props!"  He gestured enthusiastically to the podium on the steps, and the TV cameras surrounding it.  "The mayor's giving her a medal for saving the city.  Pretty sweet, huh?"

"Oh … yeah, that's … pretty sweet, all right," answered Chloe, with the enthusiasm one might feel towards polka music.  "Does this have something to do with that big metal – ant-thingy – that smashed up the interstate this morning?"

"It was a giant _alien_ robot ant-thingy.  And she _totally_ turned it into a scrap heap.  How awesome is that?  She saved the lives of hundreds of people."

"And that's really … great," Chloe chuckled awkwardly.  "You know, Brad … I think it's really kind of nice that you let Jenny hang around with you and everything.  You know, going to the movies, sitting together at lunch hour, pretending like you're friends with it …"

"I am friends with _her_," Brad interrupted, as diplomatically as possible.  "Look, I know a lot of kids at school are still a little freaked out by her.  But if you took the time to get to know Jenny, you'd think she's pretty cool.  She's really not any different from you or me.  Hey, tell you what.  After she gets her medal, why don't we all go over to Mezmer's together?  Then maybe you and I can grab a milkshake and a burger, and Jenny can hang out with your friends."

"Wow … and yeah, that sounds good and all, but … I really don't think that Jenny would enjoy herself with us.  See, my friends and I are going over to the mall after we leave Mezmer's.  We're shopping for our _prom gowns_.  And Jenny doesn't wear dresses, right?"  Chloe swallowed hard, and a mild blush glowed from her cheeks.  "It's hard to believe that Prom is less than two weeks away.  There's a lot to do between now and next Saturday.  Of course, I'm not really sure if I should even _buy_ a prom dress.  Nobody's even asked me to go, yet."

Brad fought back a chuckle – Chloe wasn't bothering with subtlety.  She gave Brad a coy little smile, and continued her routine.  "It's really a shame, too, because I found the most perfect dress – lavender, satin, off-the-shoulder …"

_Yikes._  Brad tugged at his collar.  Envisioning Chloe in an off-the-shoulder prom gown was making him break out in a sweat.  He certainly wouldn't mind dating her, but he wasn't sure if she was the girl that he wanted to take to the prom.  There were a few girls interested in him – it did wonders for a guy's ego – but he wasn't ready to make up his mind just yet, even though Chloe was trying her best to do it for him.  She gently arched her back, and curled a lock of hair around her finger … she knew how to play "the game", too.  Brad swallowed, trying to moisten his suddenly dry throat.  _Phew.  Knock it off, hormones!_

Chloe giggled, and fluttered her eyelashes at him.  "You know, Brad, everyone knows you spend a lot of time with the robots, and don't get me wrong … I think that's great and all."  Then she turned her feminine charms up to maximum power.  "Maybe it's fun hanging out with a robot girl.  But you know, sometimes … only the _real thing_ will do."

_Oh, wow._  "Umm … Chloe, look, I …"

"After all, Brad," she said, "Jenny's just a _machine_."

"You take that back, you peroxide-soaked slanderer!" shouted a sudden, agitated voice.  "Jenny's ten times the woman you'll ever be!"

Brad had been so absorbed in the flirting contest with Chloe, that he hadn't even noticed Sheldon walk up next to him.  The poor fellow's high-pitched, nasal voice shattered the mood like a brick through a plate glass window.  Brad shook his head with frustration, and glared at Sheldon through a pair of eye-slits.  "Hey, Sheldon.  Um, Chloe and I were kind of having a _private_ conversation …"

"I heard what she said about my _fair maiden_," Sheldon growled, "and I will have none of it.  None of it, I say!  Especially not on the day when Jenny finally gets the credit she's due!"  Sheldon folded his arms in a huff, mercifully covering the ketchup stain on his hooded sweatshirt.  Unfortunately, he got his hands tangled in the strap of his camera bag, and he knocked it off of his shoulder, spilling its contents.  Brad slowly shook his head, as he watched Sheldon madly juggle his camera, flash, and lenses.  He could almost admire Sheldon's nerdy version of chivalry, defending Jenny's honor in her absence.  That's more than ninety-five percent of the kids in the school would have done.  But that nobility was wrapped up in an awkward, acne-riddled body that had the poise and grace of a circus clown.

"Everybody just chill, and relax," said Brad.  "Chloe didn't mean anything by what she said about Jenny."  _At least I hope she didn't_, he thought to himself.

"Look, Brad …" she said, "I think I'll just head on over to Mezmer's now, to beat the rush.  If you want to come over later, that would be great."  And without giving him a chance to respond, Chloe retreated from the crowd, gathered up her backpack, and took off down the sidewalk in a brisk walk – obviously eager to put distance between herself and the conversation about the school's lone robot girl.

Sheldon dropped his head, and fidgeted with the settings on the zoom lens of his camera.  "Golly, Brad … I'm sorry about that.  I just lost my head for a moment.  I didn't mean to cost you a date."

"Forget about it, Sheldon," sighed Brad.  "You didn't do it on purpose."

"It just really burns me up that everyone keeps running Jenny down all the time," he moaned, clutching his hand to his heart.  "Personally, I think all the other girls are just _jealous_ because they realize how beautiful Jenny is, and they feel secretly intimidated by her.  I mean, she's gorgeous _and_ she's a superhero.  That's pretty tough to compete against.  She's like Miss America and Atom Girl all rolled up into one."

"Well, Atom Girl better hurry up," laughed Brad, "or she's going to be late for her own ceremony."

"No, she isn't!  Look!"  Sheldon's arm shot towards the sky, pointing at a glowing trail of fire that was descending towards City Hall.  He grabbed his camera and started clicking away, while Brad shaded his eyes from the sun.  Intentionally or not, Jenny was making a grand entrance.

The crowd, which had swelled to over five hundred, burst into cheers and applause, led by the mayor and city councilmen standing beside the podium.  Jenny dropped toward the steps at what seemed to be a breakneck speed.  Television cameras tracked her trajectory through the sky, and more than one person wondered if she might actually crash-land.  But Jenny was as much at home in flight as she was on the ground.  Like she had done so many times before, a burst of exhaust brought her to a pillow-soft landing, precisely on the spot that had been set aside for her.  When her pigtail-jets turned off, she realized, to her amazement, that the applause was nearly as loud as the noise from her rocket motors had been.

Sheldon shouted enthusiastic cheers, and Brad allowed himself a second to enjoy the huge smile on Jenny's face.  He could tell how much the moment meant to her.  She was drinking in the warmth of the crowd, and gave a little wave back to her well-wishers.  Sheldon was right; it was about time that Jenny got the credit she was due.  She seemed almost embarrassed and overcome by the attention; but she drew up her reserves of courage, and walked forward to the microphone on the podium.

"Thank you all very much!" she said, almost blushing.  "I'm really sorry that I was almost late.  I had make a quick trip to Colorado to stop a railroad tunnel from collapsing."  She said it in such a glib way that it generated a round of laughter, and another wave of applause.  But Brad knew it wasn't a joke.  _That's just another day in the life for Jen,_ he smiled.

The mayor stepped forward to give a longwinded speech, reciting the numerous times that Jenny had saved the city, and the Earth itself, from destruction.  Then he went over the details of the morning's fight with the giant Cluster Mega-Ant.  Apparently, one of the cars that Jenny had rescued on the highway contained an important congressman, who was also in attendance, and eager to have a photo-op with her after the ceremony.  Jenny politely waited, clasping her hands behind her back, until the Mayor called her over for the medal presentation.  He lifted a silver medallion out of a velvet-lined case, and Jenny gently bowed forward, retracting her pigtails out of the way with a quick _whirr_ of her motors.  Flash bulbs went off, the crowd applauded her once more, and the mayor waved his arms in a grandiose fashion, proudly proclaiming that today was officially "Jenny Wakeman Day".

Jenny waved to the crowd, and then waved enthusiastically to Mrs. Wakeman and Drew, who were standing up in front, at the foot of the stairs.  Mrs. Wakeman beamed with pride, basking in the recognition of her great scientific accomplishment.  But somewhere on that analytical face was the glow of a mother's pride.  Drew was there because he had also participated in combat against the giant robot; but from the expression on his face, Brad could tell that he felt out-of-place, like he didn't belong there.  _Of course_, laughed Brad, _Drew always looks like that._

Glowing with happiness, Jenny shook hands with the mayor and the congressman once more, and then telescoped the zoom lenses in her eyes to scan the crowd.  It didn't take long for her to pick out Brad's signature red hair.  She started waving excitedly to her best friend.  Sheldon, naturally, assumed that Jenny was waving at him.  Brad laughed as he waved back; he thought that Sheldon might faint.

_Jenny Wakeman Day_, he smiled to himself.  _Pretty darn cool_.  Maybe enough time had finally elapsed for people to accept robots like Jenny as normal members of society.  Maybe she could finally walk down a sidewalk, or into Mezmer's, or into a store at the mall, and people wouldn't freak out at her any more.  Everybody seemed to obsess about the metal body and the super-powers.  And make no mistake, Brad had always thought that having a super-powered robot neighbor was just about the coolest thing in the world.  But he could never, ever remember thinking of Jenny as an "it", or "just a machine", as Chloe had called her.  He always thought of her as the girl next door.  Who happened to save the Earth for a living.

_I've always known that she was pretty awesome_, he grinned.  _I guess it just took the rest of the town a few months to catch up with me.  Maybe things will start looking up for Jen from now on._

* * *

The Cluster light cruiser slipped inside the orbit of the Earth's moon, nimbly flying a stealth approach towards the southern hemisphere.  Earth was militarily primitive compared to the Cluster Empire, but their surveillance equipment still had to be dealt with, and by the queen's orders, they were to avoid detection for as long as possible.  That was a simple matter of knowing where the satellites were, and flying in their blind spots.  Something rather impossible for a fleet to do, but for a single small ship – like a light cruiser – it was something one learned to do in his first week at the academy back on Cluster Prime.

Commander Smytus barked out another order, and the bulbous, beetle-shaped starship went into a dive, riding the lines of Earth's magnetic field towards Antarctica.  In a matter of seconds, streaks of blood-red plasma danced madly about the cruiser's large cockpit, filling the interior with a strobe effect.  Some robots would actually think it was beautiful; but Smytus was still in a foul mood, and he had piloted far too many re-entries to be impressed by another one.  The red-and-yellow cruiser pulled out into level flight ten miles over the South Pacific Ocean.  The hulking robot commander gave the order for his crew of twenty roach-drones to activate the radar cloaking systems, and set course for a land mass the locals called North America.  It was several thousand miles away – they would be there in about fifteen minutes.

He left the bridge and trudged back into the cargo area, where the genius-bot Stanley had set up his mobile lab equipment.  Super-advanced computers and maintenance consoles hummed with energy, as Stanley wheeled about in his own little world, tending to the Omni-droid.  He was feeding it programming from a tall bank of supercomputers.  Smytus frowned at the bizarre, eight-foot silver-red android, with its slippery, liquid surface tone.  In his mind, it was still the embodiment of an insult directed towards him; he, a Cluster commander, now in charge of a mere light cruiser.  Reduced to a cosmic delivery boy.

"These nanobots of yours, scientist," said Smytus, looking into the Omni-droid's featureless red eyes.  "You tried to capture XJ-9 with them once before, and you failed.  What makes you think things will be different this time around?"

Stanley answered without diverting his attention from his data screen.  "Aha, you still doubt my little nanobots, Commander?  Still find it hard to believe that a bunch of tiny machines, each thousands of times smaller than a grain of sand, can work together to create a masterpiece like my Omni-droid?  Relax, Commander Smytus.  All the bugs have been ironed out in Version Two, here."

"Well, what went wrong in Version One?"

"Still obsessing with Version One, _arghh_!" shouted Stanley.  "You have one little itsy-bitsy disaster on a secret project, and they never let you hear the end of it.  Here, observe, while I make with the hologram."  Stanley punched a few keypads with two of his six arms, and an image flickered to life, hovering in front of the Omni-droid's curved face.  It was a picture of the silver-green android, the one they had seen battling the Mega-Ant with XJ-9 earlier in the day.

"Version One was an attempt to infiltrate an existing robot – which is to say, young Miss XJ-9 – with a small colony of nanobots, which would grow and take over her systems.  Unfortunately …" – he smacked what must have been his forehead – "… we put the nanobots in the wrong robot.  Well, actually, they wound up getting inside of a human.  Oy, what a mess."

Smytus seemed disturbed at that thought.  "Are you telling me that android – used to be a _human_?"

"Exactly," answered Stanley.  "I still don't know how it happened.  The first-generation nanobots were programmed to adapt and evolve on their own.  I would have expected them to turn that hairless monkey into a pile of compost.  Instead …" – he gestured towards the 3-D image – "… we get _that_.  Oh, I'd love to get my claws on him, and get him back to my lab on Cluster Prime.  I could run tests on his insides for months and months!  But … _sigh_ … orders are orders."

"Yes, the queen said to annihilate him," pondered Smytus.  "She seemed a little more peeved than usual when she said it, too."

Stanley's six eyes flitted from side to side, and he waved for Smytus to bow down so he could whisper into his auditory inputs.  "You didn't hear this from me, but they say that the last time Queen Vexus went to Earth, that blob of silver-green axle grease cut off her right hand."  Smytus whistled in astonishment.  If that story was true, then that android's life wasn't worth half a torsion bolt.

"Anyway, in Version 2, we just grew the whole android in the lab," continued Stanley.  "No more with the cute little flying wasp-bots.  No more problems with the losing control!  We manufacture the whole Omni-droid all at once, with a nice blank slate for a brain, and then program it with whatever software we want.  In fact, I have a little surprise for you, Commander.  I think you'll like it."

Before Smytus could protest, the Omni-droid raised an arm towards him.  A small shimmer-pattern gurgled on the wrist for a second, and then two long, thin snakes of silvery nanobot material flew out towards Smytus' head.  Each long, twisting cable formed a round metal pad, and affixed itself to either side of his massive robotic brow – nearly scaring the sprockets out of him.

"What is the meaning of this!" he roared.  "Scientist, remove these thing now, or I shall …"

Stanley raised a hand, wagging a finger at the commander.  "Ah, ah, ah, hold onto your horses there, Mister Cranky Pants!  He's not hurting you in any way.  In fact, you're something of a _mentor_ to him right now.  Like the silver-green android, the Omni-droid can interface with electronic equipment.  It's reading your brain, Commander.  It's downloading your knowledge and your experience, along with the top secret details of the mission given to you by the queen.  When it ultimately goes into battle against XJ-9, it will do so with the full military education and career experience of the great Commander Smytus!  Lord of the Outer Rings, Mayor of something-something, yada-yada something else, Destroyer of Worlds …" – Stanley broke into a grin – "… and Conqueror of Planet Earth!"

An evil smile came to Smytus' face, as the silvery cables retracted with a _shwerrrrp_ into the Omni-droid's arm.  "So it shall actually be _my _skill and expertise that defeats XJ-9 in glorious combat.  _Hmmmm._  Not bad, scientist.  Not bad at all."

The Omni-droid's red eyes glowed to life, and a low, synthesized voice boomed from an unseen speaker in its throat.  Though somewhat distorted, it sounded a bit like Smytus.  "Android OS 3000 system startup complete.  Mission parameters loaded.  Phase One – Sabotage.  First target – Deep Space Radar Warning Facility, Wyoming, United States."

Smytus frowned at Stanley.  "Queen Vexus has ordered me to operate secretly, sowing the seeds of chaos and disorder prior to our invasion," he growled.  "So just how am I supposed to operate secretly when I have to play taxi-driver to your magic pile of nano-slime, scientist?  That facility will be heavily guarded.  We could defeat it easily, of course.  But _not_ without being detected."

To Smytus' surprise, Stanley started to laugh.  "Oh, but we want to be detected.  Or that is, we want the Omni-droid to be detected.  Watch closely, Commander.  I think you'll find this very interesting!"

Smytus folded his arms, determined to be unimpressed.  Then shimmering waves of silver-crimson started to flow over the vaguely insectoid form of the Omni-droid.  Its features seemed to melt away before their eyes, and an electric hum echoed through the space of the cargo hold.  In less than a second, the Omni-droid had degenerated into a quivering, gurgling pillar of shiny silver-red fluid.  Then, as Smytus had seen it do earlier in the queen's war room, the amorphous blob began to take shape again – but this time, something was different.  Very different indeed.  The nanobots compressed themselves, shrinking the pillar's height to a mere six-and-a-half feet.  A pair of smoothly streamlined legs formed, then a flexible pair of arms with four-fingered hands.  The Omni-droid's midsection coalesced into three distinct pieces, which gave the Cluster shape-shifter a distinctly _feminine_ appearance.  Then a blob sprang up and expanded into a perfect sphere of a head, topped with two movable triangular sections …

That looked very much like two blue pigtails.

In spite of his resolve, Smytus gasped in amazement.  A final ripple washed over the surface of the Omni-droid, touching up the pale blue coloring on its torso and leg housings, and forming a small blue bolt in the middle of its belly.  It now was a perfect duplicate of XJ-9.

"Scientist … er, Stanley … I think this Omni-droid of yours might prove useful after all," he grinned.

"Gee, do ya think?" chuckled the squat little genius.  "Believe me, Commander, this is going to be the easiest mission you've ever had in your life.  Here, sit down, put up your feet, have yourself a nice glass of coolant."  He looked into the stern, emotionless eyes of the newly formed "XJ-9", and planted all six of his arms on his sides.  "Omni-droid, prepare to initiate program on Commander Smytus' orders."

Smytus tapped his chest.  "Ahem, ahem … Omni-droid!  This is your commander speaking.  I am Smytus!  Lord of the Outer …"

"Again with the monologue," grimaced Stanley, "Give the command, already!"

"… er, right.  Omni-droid!  Execute Phase One!"

"Execute Phase One – Sabotage," parroted the Omni-droid.  "Deployment in ten seconds."

A roach-drone activated the aft cargo doors, and the back end of the Cluster ship split in half, swinging open like a clamshell.  As the shriek of wind filled the cargo hold, the counterfeit XJ-9 leaned forward slightly, and with an electric hum, panels of blue-colored metal unfolded from its back.  In seconds, the shape-shifter had deployed an exact physical copy of XJ-9's wings and booster rockets.  The triangular pigtails on its head rotated in place, and a pair of nozzles grew out of their base.  Then, with a high-pitched whine, a blast of pale blue exhaust billowed underneath the Omni-droid.  Riding the brilliant flames from its pigtail-jets and booster rockets, "XJ-9" catapulted from the back of the Cluster ship, and rocketed into the dark, empty Pacific sky.

Smytus and Stanley smiled as they watched her bank to the right, taking a northeasterly heading.  At the speed she was traveling, her first target was only six minutes away.

* * *

Continued in Chapter Three  /  Ten Days to Cluster Dawn

* * *


	3. A Pleasant Afternoon in the Suburbs

* * *

Betrayal From Within

A "My Life as a Teenage Robot" Fanfic

Chapter Three – A Pleasant Afternoon in the Suburbs

* * *

Jenny balanced her weight on the tips of her metallic toes, her sensors tuned to their highest setting, ready to charge in any direction.  She was feeling _in the zone_ today.  The last six attackers had come from the left and the right, so her instincts told her to be ready for a surprise from behind.  Sure enough, with mechanical quickness, a green Cluster roach-drone popped out of the bushes only twenty feet behind her, its weapons drawn and trained directly at her.

Faster than the blink of an eye, she leapt into the air toward the drone, somersaulting gracefully as she deployed a giant mallet from her right elbow.  Taking advantage of her momentum, she swung her mighty Thor's Hammer towards the doomed drone's head.  With a thunderous crash, her giant mallet shattered the roach-drone … sending a hail of plywood and cardboard fluttering about the front yard.

"One point eight five seconds!" she laughed.  Jenny licked her finger and poked herself in the hip.  "_Sssss!_  The girl is _hot tonight_."

Drew slowly shook his head at her.  "Yeah, yeah, that cardboard cut-out never had a chance.  Okay.  So does this mean I'm supposed to do the hammer on this one?"

But before he got an answer, another cardboard roach-drone popped up twenty feet to his left.  It surprised him, and he didn't get a good jump towards the target.  But he was getting faster with his shape-shifting.  He clasped his hands together, and swung his arms around his body as if he was jumping rope.  By the time his hands were over his head, they had expanded into a large, cylindrical silver-green mallet.  It slammed into the cardboard target almost as forcefully as Jenny's blow … but half a second slower.

"Wicked cool!" shouted Tuck, enjoying the show from his perch on Brad's shoulders.  The boys were watching the action from the safety of their own front yard; they'd learned that, while it was fun to _watch_ these training sessions, it was a good idea to stay clear of them.  Jenny was really putting Drew through his paces this afternoon, and there was a lot of target debris flying around.

"Ehh, I could have read the paper while I was waiting for you to hit it," she giggled, with a smug little smile.  "Okay, let's bring on the next round … if you think you are ready, _grasshopper_."

"Give me a break, _sensei_," laughed Drew.  "Less talky, more smashy."

With a _shoomp_ of compressed air, a set of roach-drone targets popped up simultaneously in a full circle around Jenny.  These cutouts had been fitted with primitive suction-cup dart guns, and during practice, one hit from a suction-cup meant you were "dead".  The drones opened fire, but Jenny was already in motion.  Dodging the first three darts, her left forearm converted into a powerful chainsaw.  With an air-shattering roar, the chainsaw shredded the first target-drone into pieces, and quickly made short work of the rest of the them, as Jenny sprinted around the circle at super-speed.

"Two point three three seconds," she beamed.  "Your turn, _rookie_."

"_Your turn, rookie_," smirked Drew, mocking her voice.  "But I can't do _motors_, so I'll just have to …"

Another set of cardboard roach-drones popped up around Drew, and fired their guns.  But his pliable body was tailor-made for dodging projectiles.  While he twisted and folded to avoid the darts, his arms stretched out into long, nano-edged sabers, with edges only a few atoms wide.  Then he simply pivoted on his toes, rotating in place like a giant weed whacker.  With a quick succession of _schwicks_, each target drone snapped in half, sliced with atomic precision.

"… improvise," he grinned.  "One point nine four!  Uh-huh … go Drew … it's my birth-day …"

Brad roared with laughter at Drew's little end-zone dance.  "Perhaps the student has, ah, surpassed the master," he chuckled, speaking in a bad Kung-Fu movie accent.

Jenny seemed a little irked at Brad's friendly jab.  "We'll just see about that," she smiled.  "PULL!"

A small training device whined to life in response to the voice command.  It lifted its single arm, deployed a clay disc painted in red-and-white circles, and launched it into the air.  As it curled two hundred feet into the clear afternoon sky, Jenny confidently unhinged her left elbow to deploy her laser-limb.  She took sight on the target disc and … ZAP!  A brilliant streak of pale blue laser energy streaked into the sky, blasting the disc into a cloud of dust.

Drew's shoulders slumped.  "Aww, _geez_, Jenny – not the laser.  You _know_ what's going to happen."

"Come on, Drew!" she grinned.  "You've just got to think _positively_.  Today's the day you're going to get it all figured out.  The new laser schematics Mom made for you don't have any moving parts!  Just think, 'Today's the day!'  Get ready and … _Pull!_"

"Think positively," he mumbled to himself, as the clay target arced high into the air.  Drew squinted his eyes in concentration, and rapid waves of silver-green warbled back and forth over his right arm.  It shimmered and flexed, and expanded slightly into a long, cylindrical cannon barrel.  Silver pipes and stabilizer rings formed around the outside of the barrel, and it began to whine with a faint but high-pitched squeal.  An internal message in his robotic vision told him that the newly formed laser chamber was at full charge.  He took aim at the clay target, fired the laser, and …

Recoiled backwards, as an explosion blasted his right arm into a thousand pieces.  Jenny and the boys tried to duck, but they were pelted by high-speed blobs of shiny goo – as if somebody had set off a firecracker in a can of silver paint.

Drew got back to his feet, waving a smoking stump where his right arm used to be.  Scorch marks coated his upper body from the waist up, but he didn't seem hurt … just _annoyed_.  "Okay, that's it.  I'm not going to try the laser anymore, all right?  Man, I am _never_ going to get the hang of this!  A guy can explode only so many times before he gets tired of it."  Drew's nanobot body started to repair the damage as he walked around the yard, collecting and re-absorbing the larger chunks of silver-green shrapnel.

Tuck was laughing hysterically, even as he wiped a large glob of shiny molasses off of his face.  "I _never_ get tired of it!  It's like watching that crazy coyote that keeps trying to catch the road runner.  He keeps blowing up too!  _Kaboom!_"  He scooped up a few more puddles of slime, mashed them together into a silver ball, and lobbed it back towards Drew.

Jenny finished cleaning off her torso with her rotary polishing tool, satisfied that she'd gotten all the big pieces of nanobot sludge.  For a girl who had just gotten her paint job messed up, she was in a remarkably giddy mood.  "Okay, okay, laser practice is done for today.  But you're really getting better at this, Drew!  And you'll get the laser right one of these days.  I know you can do it!"

"Man, you're in a disturbingly cheery mood," said Drew, as he wiped nano-goo off the side of the house.

"Yeah, Jen, you've been bouncing and skipping around all day," added Brad.  "What's the occasion?  Did your mom give you a fresh set of servo motors?"

"_Naw_, I'm just in a good mood, guys," she grinned.  "I guess I'm still pumped up from yesterday."

"You mean you're happy because you got a medal?" asked Tuck.

"Not really, Tuck.  I mean, it was nice of the city to put on that ceremony … even if it was a little _dorky_," she giggled.  "But all day yesterday, everyone was being so nice, and thanking me, and congratulating me!  It just made me feel … _appreciated_.  And that means a lot more to me than any old medal, or getting my picture in the paper.  Although … it _was_ kind of great to get my picture in the paper!"

"You were on the television news, too," said Brad.  "Now everyone knows you're a hero!"

"And that's swell and all," smiled Jenny, "but the really cool thing happened when I went to the mall last night.  Nobody chased me out of their store!  Nobody complained that I smelled funny.  Nobody ran away when they saw me coming!  It might have been the first time … that I actually felt a little bit like a _normal_ teenager.  I even bumped into some of the girls from school, and they let me hang out with them!  We went shopping for shoes, and then we got our nails done … well, they did have to use a rotary grinder for mine … and then we went to the food court to check out _guys, _and catch up on gossip_ .._."

"Oh, _yeah_, I really want to hear about this," groaned Tuck.  "_Bleah!_"

Jenny huffed at the little fellow's remark, and her eyes drifted off into a dreamy haze.  "You're just too young to understand, Tuck.  See, it's only eleven days until the _prom_!  The most important social event of the school year.  All the girls will be in fancy dresses, and the guys will all be wearing suits and tuxedos.  Everyone is talking about it!  I figured I wouldn't be going to the prom … it's kind of lame for a girl to go by herself, without a date.  And who would want to take a metal freak to the prom, right?  But last night, Connie told me that Juanita heard a rumor that somebody was going to ask _me_ to go to the prom with them.  But she doesn't know who!  It's a _secret_!  Isn't that _awesome_?!?"

Drew's arm finished repairing itself with a quick _schwerrrp_.  "_Pffft._  Gimme a break, it's _hardly_ a secret."

Jenny's head whirled around.  "Not a secret?  You know who it is?"

"Of course I _know_ … doesn't everyone?"  Suddenly, Drew stopped himself – he realized that Jenny honestly did _not_ know who it was.  "Wait a minute.  You mean he hasn't … I mean, nobody's asked you to the prom, yet?"

Jenny ran towards him, with a hyper expression on her face.  "You _know_ who it is, don't you!  Tell me, Drew!  Come on, you've gotta tell me!  Tell me tell me tell me!"

Drew started backpedaling like crazy.  "Ah … uh … no, wait, Jenny … all I meant was, I heard the same _rumor_ that you did …"

"_Ba-loney_," laughed Jenny, growing more excited by the second.  "You _know_.  Start talking!"

"Look, just forget it, okay?"  Drew wished he had just kept his big mouth shut.  "Um, ah … shouldn't we be more worried about training?"

A wicked grin grew on Jenny's face.  "All right then," she said.  "Last exercise of the day.  A little one-on-one combat training.  First robot that gets pinned for a three-count is the loser!  If I win, you have to tell me who's going to ask me to the prom!"

"_What!?!_"  Drew was getting _really_ flustered.  "No _way_!  I mean … aw, c'mon, I don't want to fight you!"

"If you don't, I'll … I'll …" – Jenny thought for a second, then grinned even wider – "… I'll tell XJ-8 that you want to take _her_ to the prom."

Drew gasped in horror, and his jaw nearly dropped off of his face.  "You _wouldn't dare_!  _Ulp_ … oh, man, that's dirty pool, Jenny!  That is so _seriously_ not fair!"

Tuck rubbed his little hands together excitedly.  "All righty, time for some _robot rasslin'!_  Woohoo!  Let's get ready to rumble!"

"But I _don't want_ to rumble!" shouted Drew, waving his arms frantically …

Jenny wasn't going to let him off the hook.  With a lightning-fast leap and squeal of laughter, she plowed into Drew with a flying tackle, sending both teenage robots tumbling to the ground.  Jenny flipped Drew over onto his back, leaned on his shoulders, and hooked her arm around one of his legs for leverage.  "And Silver Toothpaste Boy looks like he's down for the count!  One … two …"

But Drew finally gathered his senses, and his body gurgled like a block of gelatin.  Suddenly, Jenny wasn't holding onto anything.  Thick cords of doughy, silver-green paste curled into the air, and slopped into a new six-foot blob standing ten feet behind her.  Drew reformed himself by the time Jenny got back to her feet, still hoping to bargain his way out of this.  "Whoa, hold up, Jen!  Stop!  Time out?"

"Heh, heh, heh … no weaseling out now, rookie!"  Jenny was having an amazing amount of fun watching Drew squirm and scamper about the front yard.  He wasn't trying to fight back, but his fluid body was proving to be very hard for her to get her hands on.  It was difficult to pin somebody's shoulders for three seconds when they didn't have any shoulders.  Finally, after a minute of frustration, she hovered ten feet into the air, and cracked open her right elbow.  With a few quick _whirrs_ and _clicks_, one of her many beam weapons deployed, and extended its glowing barrel towards Drew.

His eyes nearly shot out of their sockets.  "Holy smokin'-eyed catfish!  What are you _doing!?!_"

"It's my paralyzer ray," she giggled, "set to the lowest setting.  It won't hurt you, Drew!  It'll just keep you _solid_ for ten seconds or so.  Long enough for me to claim victory!"

"_Gahhh!_"  Drew sprung into a long, arcing stream of silvery syrup to avoid Jenny's first shot, then resumed android form and ran around the back of the Wakeman house.  Jenny missed with two more shots, then ignited her pigtail-jets, and streaked around to the back yard, in hot pursuit.  Poor Drew sure didn't want to tell her his secret, and that only fueled her need to know.  She paused just long enough to scan the back yard, but her quarry was nowhere in sight.  Rushing around the other side of the house, all she saw was the neighbors' hedges and a few lawn gnomes.  Soon she was right back in the front yard.  There was nothing in sight but shredded fragments of cardboard targets.

_Oh, great – he's hiding.  This might be tough._  Drew could have shape-shifted into part of the sidewalk, or the mailbox, or the rain gutter … Jenny gave her front yard the once-over and saw Brad leaning against the house, fighting back a chuckle, as he watched her search for her silver-green student.  "Having problems there, Jen?" he laughed.

Jenny zipped over to confront him.  "You saw him come around the house," she grinned.  "Where'd he go, Brad?  Come on, we're best friends!  You'd tell your best friend, wouldn't you?"

Suddenly, she heard a another burst of laughter from next door.  She turned to see Tuck snickering furiously into his hands, trying very badly to remain silent.  Brad had to hold onto his little brother extra-tight to keep him from slipping off of his shoulders.  _Wait a minute … Brad's over there with Tuck … but Brad is here in my front yard, standing right behind me …  oh, no._

There was a liquidy _schwerrrrp_ from behind her back, and then Jenny shuddered slightly, as she felt the touch of long metal fingers against the back of her head.  "Brad" gurgled and warbled with patterns of silver-green ripples, and moments later, Drew had resumed his normal appearance.  But now he had the upper hand; catching Jenny by surprise, the nano-computers in his body had interfaced with Jenny's electronic brain.  She slumped, and her arms dropped by her sides, hanging limply.  A dazed expression washed across her face.

"It's the android sleeper hold!" said Tuck, in a pretend-announcer's voice.  "This could be the upset of the century.  I think this match is just – about – over!"

Drew was snickering too – he decided that a _little_ payback was called for.  "Not quite.  Just _one_ little thing, first.  Oh, man … Jenny, I'm sorry it had to come to this!"

Jenny's eyes quivered, and zoned out into a straight-ahead zombie stare.  Then she snapped perfectly upright, her pigtails perked up, and she perched one hand on her hip, while holding the other one out to her side.  Then … she started to _sing_.

"I'm a little teapot, short and stout … here is my handle, here is my spout …"

Brad and Tuck wiped tears from their eyes.  "Dude," gasped Brad, "she is going to _kill_ you."

"I know," grinned Drew.  "I'd like a small, simple funeral.  Okay, let's wrap this up.  Pardon me, madam – if you'd kindly lay down, please?"  Jenny obediently sat down, and laid back on the grass.  Drew placed a single finger from his free hand on her torso while he kept his other hand interfaced to the back of her head.  "And-a one, and-a two, and-a three.  It's all over, folks!  I shook up the world!  _Yo, Adrian!_"

The instant he removed his hand from the back of her head, Jenny sprang to her feet like a wildcat, with fierce crackles of electricity leaping from her cheeks.  Her eyes glowed with fury as the boys laughed themselves silly.  She balled her hands into fists, and started marching towards Drew.  "You are – _so_ – dead," she growled, pounding a fist into her open palm.

Drew was laughing and scrambling for his life, oozing his way out of her clutches.  "Look, it was just a joke!  C'mon!  Besides, you have such a lovely singing voice."  He jumped over the fence into Brad's yard, hiding behind Brad and Tuck.  Jenny converted her right hand into a huge power first, and waved it menacingly while she chased him, trying to stay angry in the midst of all the laughter.  "Jen, you really didn't give me much of a choice!" pleaded Drew.  "Whaddaya say?  Huh?  Buddies?  Huh?  Hmmm?"

"I'll _buddy_ you," laughed Jenny, rearing her power fist over her head.  "You know Drew, the great thing about having a friend like you is … I can whoop your butt, and it grows right back!"  But as mad as she was at Drew's little mind-control stunt, she grudgingly admitted that it _was_ kind of funny.  And so what if he wanted to keep his little secret?  She was in too good of a mood to let something minor like that ruin her day.  She'd find out eventually.  Drew kept circling Brad and Tuck, laughing like an idiot, and Jenny kept waving her power fist over her head, threatening to whoop _all_ of their butts …

Then she stopped, with a puzzled expression on her face.  "Do you guys hear that?" she asked.

That's when the first helicopter gunship roared overhead.

It seemed to come out of nowhere, skimming the rooftops of the suburban neighborhood with a staccato thunder, the wind from its blades kicking up dust and debris, even from a hundred feet in the air.  As it slowed down to hover in place, directly in front of Brad's house, another giant helicopter howled in from the opposite direction.  Soon a third massive copter dropped through a low layer of clouds, taking up position between the first two.  All three gunships had a military appearance to them, painted in mottled shades of green … with very nasty-looking rocket pods and laser cannons slung underneath their weapons pylons.  And they all pointed those weapons at the small group of terrified friends.

Brad and Tuck clutched their hands over their ears, gaping at the amazing scene hanging in the sky in front of their house.  Jenny and Drew stared at each other, dumbstruck, completely baffled by the sudden and spectacular appearance of the helicopters.

A loud PA speaker squawked to life from the nose of the center gunship.  "Attention!  Attention, XJ-9!  This is the United States Army!  Stay where you are!  Do not make any sudden movements!"

"The _Army!?!_" shouted Jenny.  "What in the world are they doing here!?!"

But while she was still wondering about that, she heard the squeal of tires coming down the road.  Two large, canvas-covered trucks roared up the street at high speed, barreling directly towards them.  They were also covered in mottled green colors, and had white stenciling on their sides which read _National Guard_.  The trucks jumped over the concrete curb, coming to rest halfway on the front lawn.  Even before they had come to a complete stop, soldiers began leaping out of the back, barking orders to each other.  Each soldier was armed with an impressive-looking laser rifle; some of them carried bazookas.

The front door of the lead truck swung open, and a large man in his fifties climbed out, with a salt-and-pepper brush cut, and wearing a colonel's uniform.  He scowled in Jenny's direction, and raised a bullhorn to his mouth.  "There is your target, men!  And she's taken hostages!  You are ordered to hold your fire until said hostages have been secured!"

Now Jenny was starting to get scared.  "_Hostages!?!_  These aren't hostages!  These are my friends!"

"Stow your weapon immediately!" shouted the colonel.  "Step back, and deactivate yourself!"

Jenny realized that she still had her power fist deployed, and for some reason, these soldiers thought she was actually threatening Brad and Tuck with it.  She retracted it back into her arm, desperately trying to make sense of the situation.  The boys were just as bewildered as she was.  Brad took a few halting steps towards the soldiers, with his hands held over his head.  "Don't shoot!  For crying out loud, don't shoot!  What do you guys want with Jenny!?!  She hasn't done anything!"

Tuck ran after his older brother, scared out of his wits.  He glommed onto Brad's pant leg with a vice-like grip.  "Brad!  Never argue with a man holding a bazooka!"

"The hostages are in the clear!  Subdue the robots!  GO!  GO!  GO!"

And suddenly two fully-equipped special ops soldiers sprang from hiding in the bushes.  They grabbed Brad and Tuck, and sprinted with them to safety, away from Jenny and Drew.  Dozens of soldiers sprinted towards the front yard of Brad's house, and formed an armed perimeter around a baffled pair of teenage robots.  Drew was almost petrified with fear.  Jenny was stunned and confused – they were obviously after her – but these weren't the bad guys.  She couldn't fight back against the Army.

Jenny spun around, and saw nothing but soldiers in every direction.  "But … but why?"

The front door of the Wakeman house finally swung open, and out burst an extremely agitated white-haired scientist in a yellow lab coat.  Mrs. Wakeman stormed onto her walkway, fists shaking in righteous fury.  "What in the name of Sir Isaac _Blessed_ Newton is going on out here!  It sounds like somebody is trying to start the next World War!  What is all this – some of us have very delicate bacteria cultures growing in the incubator, you know!"

The colonel pointed towards Mrs. Wakeman.  "There's the ringleader, men!  Grab her!"  Half a dozen soldiers sprinted from one of the green trucks, quickly surrounding the perplexed scientist.  One of them raised his laser rifle to aim at Mrs. Wakeman's chest.  "Hands where I can see 'em, lady."

"Oh, my goodness," gulped Mrs. Wakeman, quickly flinging her hands over her head.

The sight of a gun pointed at her mother sparked a defensive instinct inside of Jenny.  She bolted towards her yard, pushing aside two startled national guardsmen.  "You leave my mother alone!"

"She's attacking!" shouted the colonel.  "Fire Team Alpha, GO!"

A bazooka-carrying soldier aimed his giant weapon towards Jenny as she ran towards her mother, and pulled the trigger.  A loud _bang_ of compressed air erupted from the mouth of his bazooka.  Thickly wound coils of steel cable streaked through the air, unraveling into a long, twirling set of bolos.  The cable struck Jenny in the waist, and immediately began wrapping itself around her arms and legs, immobilizing her.  She tripped and slammed awkwardly into the ground, bound from her shoulders to her knees in steel cable that could support a suspension bridge.  And for an extra touch, the end of each cable was connected to a powerful capacitor.  A high-voltage current discharged through the cable, rocking her body with violent electrical shocks.

"Are you guys _nuts!?!_  You can't _do_ this!  What about our _rights …_" shouted Drew.  He managed to take one single step towards his fallen friend, before three dozen rifle barrels leveled at him.

"Rights?  _Rights?!?_  Robots don't have any rights," growled the colonel.  "Now, you're not in trouble, android – not _yet_.  But give me one excuse, _just one excuse_, and you'll be deactivated along with your little friend here.  If I had my way, every last one of you miserable contraptions would be melted down for scrap.  You just can't trust robots!"

"But why?  Why are you doing this!?!" protested Drew.

The colonel took a few steps towards Jenny, snarling down at her immobile form.  "In the last twelve hours, the XJ-9 robot has attacked and destroyed every major deep space radar facility in the United States and Europe.  It has also destroyed a long-range spy telescope, and sabotaged three military bases.  It has seriously damaged the ability of this country, and this planet, to defend itself against alien attack."

He clasped his large hands behind his back, and glowered at the confounded scientist.  "Doctor Nora Wakeman, by the authority of the United States government, and the World Senate, you … and your little robotic traitor … are under arrest for sabotage and treason."

* * *

Continued in Chapter Four  /  Nine Days to Cluster Dawn

* * *


	4. Public Enemy Number One

A/N – Apparently, the Cluster Commander's name is spelled "Smytus".  I've corrected it.

* * *

Betrayal From Within

A "My Life as a Teenage Robot" Fanfic

Chapter Four – Public Enemy Number One

* * *

In the span of two minutes, Jenny's carefree afternoon with her friends had deteriorated into a nightmare.  She blinked a few times, clearing her vision from the electrical shocks that had been channeled through her body.  Then she accessed her short-term memory banks, and replayed them twice, just to make sure she had heard the Army colonel correctly: she and her mother had just been charged with treason, for sabotaging military bases around the world!  Just yesterday, she had been hailed as a hero.  Now she was tied up with high-strength cables, and surrounded by soldiers and helicopters of the US Army, who seemed convinced that she was a traitor.

The square-jawed colonel reached into his pocket and pulled out a device that looked like a stainless steel hockey puck.  "Now, Dr. Wakeman," he bellowed, "tell me how to deactivate this little saboteur of yours in the next five seconds … or I'll deactivate her _my_ way."

Even surrounded by the army, Mrs. Wakeman did not take kindly to being ordered around – and she definitely would not stand to have anybody question the integrity of her work.  She wagged her finger vigorously under the colonel's nose.  "Now just see here, you will do no such thing!  And you will _not_ make any more preposterous demands until you explain all of this _rubbish_ about sabotage!  Why, the very notion is absurd!  And tell those snipers to get down from my roof, before they ruin the shingles!"

"I'll give the orders here, lady," growled the colonel.  He knelt down next to Jenny's head, with the puck-shaped device, and gave it a twist.  Small tines poked out, sizzling with high voltage …

But Jenny wasn't going to take this lying down.  Grimacing with intense effort, she flexed her arms against the coils of cable, struggling to escape from her steel cocoon.  The colonel jumped back as a few strands of cable snapped loose, whistling dangerously through the air.  Then with a mighty heave, the thick steel bands snapped in half.  Jenny burst out of the cables, and somersaulted backwards to put some distance between herself and the colonel.

"Just listen!" she pleaded.  "This is crazy!  I didn't do anything wrong!  I haven't even _been_ to an army base in the last week!"

"Oh, really," sneered the colonel.  "Well, pictures don't lie, missy.  We have video from four separate military installations, all positively identifying you … the XJ-9 robot … as the saboteur."  He made new hand gestures to his troops.  "Fire Team Bravo!  Move into position!"

Brad watched in horror from one of the National Guard trucks, fearing for his best friend's safety.  He wrenched himself free from his "rescuer's" grasp and cupped his hands to his mouth.  "Jenny!  These guys aren't going to listen to you!  Make a run for it!"

A dozen soldiers leveled their weapons at Jenny's chest, aiming for her central power hub.  She _knew_ that she had done nothing wrong – but Brad was right, it looked like the Army wasn't interested in giving her a chance to explain herself.  It was tough enough for Jenny to deal with damage that actually _was_ her fault; she wasn't about to take the blame for something that she _didn't_ do, especially if it was going to get her deactivated and melted down.

With a whine of her motors and a blast of smoke, Jenny ignited her pigtail-jets and shot into the sky like a bullet, just as a dozen electron-shock rifles fired at the spot where she'd been standing.  She flew right between two of the massive helicopter gunships, startling the pilots with her quickness.  The helicopters wobbled dangerously close to each other, then pivoted in space and tilted their noses to give chase to the runaway robot traitor.

Streaking through the sky at just under the speed of sound, Jenny's sensors began to flash warning messages in her vision.  Her eyes extended outward, and folded over backwards to look behind her, like periscopes.  The helicopters had unleashed a barrage of air-to-air missiles at her.

_Aieee!!! Wow, these guys are playing for keeps!_  She began violently curling back and forth in the sky, making tight, high-speed turns to throw the missiles off the trail.  The skies over Tremorton became crisscrossed with spiraling smoke patterns, as the helicopters' missiles tried in vain to close in on the super-powered teenager.  Jenny pulled upwards into a climb, streaking towards a layer of clouds to hide herself for a few minutes.  Maybe she could still calm things down, and sort things out …

Orange shafts of laser energy shrieked in front of her face.  _What now?  They came at me from the north … oh, no._  She dodged another volley of laser fire.  Flying towards her from the north was no less than two dozen aircars from Skyway Patrol.  They were a lot faster than the helicopters, and their laser cannons were just as dangerous as the missiles.  The lead group of aircars swooped into a climbing turn, then tipped over and dove at her with their weapons blazing.

Jenny's forearms split open, and spread outwards like the ribs of an umbrella.  The tips glowed with a faint purple light – then pale violet arcs of energy leapt from tip to tip, faster and faster, until a translucent sphere had formed around the robotic teen, humming with electromagnetic energy.  Jenny completed her force field just in time to shield herself from a nonstop hail of laser bolts.  She braced herself behind her shields, riding out the attack and seething with frustration; again, her instincts told her to fight back, but she couldn't attack Skyway Patrol any more than she could attack the army.

Finally, the last laser ricocheted off of her weakened shield, which refolded and stowed back into her forearms.  Jenny waved her arms frantically, trying to cool them off, when yet another alarm went off in her vision.  She unhinged the top of her head, and deployed a radar dish to make a quick sweep of the sky – and her shoulders slumped in mental exhaustion.  Three separate squadrons of Air Force jets were heading in her direction.  _Cripes, is there anybody out there who doesn't want to blow me up?_

Motors whirred to unfold her wings and booster-rockets.  She might not be able to fight back, but she could still out-fly anything in the sky.  _This just doesn't make any sense.  I hate to run away – but I've got to!  I've got to hide until everybody just chills out, and we can figure out what's going on!_  Just as the Air Force jets closed to missile launching range, Jenny ignited her booster engines.  The military pilots could only grumble with frustration as the teenage robot girl accelerated to a fantastic speed, and disappeared from their scopes.

* * *

Smytus treated himself to another round of evil laughter.  So far, his sabotage mission to Earth had been a smashing success.  And the best thing was, he was enjoying it all from the comfort of his high-backed commander's chair on the bridge of the light cruiser – hidden away in a dense forest, completely undetected by Earth's primitive surveillance systems.  Monitors hanging from the ceiling displayed video feeds from military and news satellites.  And every single monitor told the same shocking story of treason and betrayal – the XJ-9, the so-called "Global Robotic Response Unit", had gone rogue.

The Commander pivoted his chair around, grinning to the image of Queen Vexus on the communications panel.  "Your Majesty, everything is going better than we could have hoped.  Eighty percent of the installations on the Primary Target List have been destroyed!  And not only do the foolish humans _not suspect_ the Cluster – _I_ have them completely convinced that their own precious XJ-9 has turned against them!  Even now, they hunt her down like wild animal."

"Remarkable, Commander Smytus," replied the queen, giving the braggadocious warrior a sarcastic smirk.  "I can promise you that all of your … _hard work_ … will not be forgotten."  Vexus was fully aware that the Omni-droid was doing all of the work, and she didn't appreciate Smytus' smug attitude at the moment.  However, for now, she was only interested in results.  Besides, the sarcasm appeared to be lost on Smytus' cosmic-scale ego.  "Scientist, I take it things are going well with the first mission of your new and improved Omni-droid?"

Stanley poked his large, bulbous head out from behind Smytus' chair.  "Oh, everything is just going super peachy, Your Queenship!  No control problems whatsoever.  The Omni-droid's shape-shifting and camouflaging is working like a charm!  It's a perfect counterfeit of XJ-9."

"The Omni-droid attacks a target without warning," said Smytus, "destroys it, and stays around just long enough to make sure it's seen, so that XJ-9 gets the blame."

"This is all well and good, but do keep one very important thing in mind."  In her chair back in the palace, Queen Vexus leaned forward into her viewscreen, scowling.  "Even should you succeed in destroying every single radar, aircraft, and tank … every single _slingshot_ on the planet Earth – if you do not succeed in capturing XJ-9 for the Cluster, then your mission will be a failure.  If that happens, Commander … I would suggest that you _stay_ on Earth.  For your sake."

Commander Smytus thrust out his chest boastfully.  "Fear not, my Queen.  We have turned the humans of Earth against XJ-9.  We have driven her away from her disgusting human "friends".  When the time is right … she will come running right to us."

* * *

It didn't take the news networks long to turn 'XJ-9' into the most infamous name since 'Benedict Arnold'.  Global News Network had already crafted a catchy logo and ominous theme music to accompany its lead story: "Robotic Renegade".  The well-groomed GNN anchorman introduced the story, then cut to a video from a military base in North Dakota.  A camera showed three massive, bowl-shaped radar dishes pointed into the sky, silhouetted against banks of security lights.  Suddenly, brilliant pulses of pale blue plasma streaked in from off-screen.  The radar dishes were obliterated, disappearing into roiling pillars of flame and smoke.  Then a streak flashed across the screen, a figure riding a pair of pale-blue exhaust trails.  It stopped in the middle of the complex, eerily backlit from the light of the explosions.  It was a teenage robot, with her arm converted into a plasma cannon … and an evil grin on her face.  She began firing the cannon in random directions, adding new explosions to the destruction.

She let out a spine-chilling laugh, tossing her pigtails back as she punched her fist into the air.  "Run!  Run as fast as you can, pathetic meat creatures!  You can't escape us!  Robots are the _future!_"

Drew and Brad exchanged an uncomfortable glance as they watched the video on GNN; there were a few minutes left until fourth period History started, and they were eager to hear of any news concerning their friend.  Besides Brad, there were a few other students leaning over Drew's shoulder, watching the flat television screen that he had grown out of his left forearm.  The general mood was one of disbelief.  It was hard to believe that one of the greatest criminals of modern times had been sitting at a desk in this very classroom only two days ago.  But the students had more or less accepted Jenny's guilt as fact.  After all, it was hard to argue with pictures.

But Brad was still willing to.  "No way.  I don't buy it.  _No way_ is that Jenny.  It doesn't even sound like her!"  He folded his arms defiantly, snorting at the anchorman on the television screen.

Drew heaved his shoulders with a sad groan, and slowly shook his head.  "I don't know what to think, Brad.  I mean, I'm with you … no way is Jenny doing this voluntarily.  But maybe she's being tricked somehow.  Or remote controlled."

Among the students watching Drew's TV, Chloe flipped her wavy blonde hair over her shoulder and tilted her head, thinking it gave her the appearance of being deep in thought.  "Maybe she just busted a gear or something.  Or maybe one of her wires got fried.  That's what happened to my hair dryer, just before it went on the fritz."

"Jenny is not a _hair dryer_," Brad scowled at her.  "And she is _not_ on the fritz."

"Look, Brad," said Chloe, "your metal buddy is blowing stuff up and using words like 'meat creatures'.  She's on the fritz."

"Of course, there's another possibility that nobody's bothered to mention yet," cooed a swooning, accented voice.  "It's quite possible that the titanium tomboy knows _exactly_ what she's doing."

Brad furrowed his eyebrows, and glared across the room at a pair of well-dressed girls who were entirely too pleased with the current state of affairs.  Brit Krust, and her cousin Tiff, were grinning like a pair of fashionable hyenas.  Brit played with the folds in her bright red cravat, getting it to lie just so against the lapels of her smartly tailored jacket.  She knew the comment would get the attention of the entire class; always with a flair for the dramatic, she waited a few moments before resuming.  "Oh, do come on.  Can any of you seriously say that this surprises you?  That sheet metal charlatan just marches into our school one day, as smug as you please, expecting to be treated like just another student.  She wails and whines about being accepted as a _normal_ teenager.  And what does she do?"

Tiff joined in, her eyes snarling through a thick layer of mascara.  "She spends most of her time zappin' and breakin' stuff.  Showing off with all of her fancy ray guns and rockets.  Blowin' things up with her missiles!  Right in front of us, every day.  An' you know why?  'Cause she thinks she's _better_ than us."

A murmur of agreement rumbled through the class, and Brit continued.  "How many times has Disaster Queen smashed a desk, or broken a window, or knocked out a wall?  Well, she's doing the same thing right now – just on a bit of a grander scale.  I always _knew_ that robot was bad news.  However, on the bright side, it'll be a such a relief to pursue our education in a _robot-free_ school."

Drew looked up from his television screen, grinding his teeth together as he tried to hold his temper in check.  "For crying out loud … I am _sitting right here_."

"Well, maybe you think you're better than the rest of us too, _slimeball_," hissed Tiff.

"You two have _never_ liked Jenny," scowled a nasally voice.  Silently brooding until now, Sheldon turned to face Brit and Tiff.  "You've always been jealous of her!  And now, when she needs her friends the most, you two _harpies_ are trying to turn the whole school against her!  _For shame!_  Right now, poor Jenny is out there somewhere … all alone … on the run … cold, rusting, looking for a place to recharge … who knows what condition she might be in?"

Brit smirked back at him, condescendingly.  "Well apparently your little wind-up sweetheart's blasters are in fine shape," she snickered.  "Although the little dial in her brain seems to be stuck on 'psychotic'."

Brad bolted upright, knocked his chair over backwards, and pointed an accusing finger at Brit.  His voice was laced with frustration and strain.  "We don't even know who that is on the video!  Because I'll tell you all one thing right now … it's _not Jenny!_"

Then everyone's heads snapped to the front of the class, as a stack of books slammed down on the teacher's desk.  Mrs. Jefferson, their History teacher, glowered at the class with a disapproving stare.  "Quiet!  Quiet, all of you!  I could hear all of you shouting like beer hall thugs from the teachers' lounge!"  Her cold stare pivoted towards Brad.  "Mister Carbunkle, pick up your chair and plant your posterior in it _right now_, or you will be planting it in detention hall, after school!"

Brad grabbed his chair, mumbling to himself, as the rest of the class started to settle down.  Mrs. Jefferson arranged a stack of graded quizzes on her desk, burning her cold stare into every student until she got the quiet she felt she deserved.  "It's bad enough to deal with the distraction of Miss Wakeman when she's here," she snarled to the class.  "I won't allow her to become a distraction when she's _not_.  For the next forty minutes, I don't want to hear anything about any blasted _robots_."

The words caught Drew like a surprise kick to the gut.  He looked to Mrs. Jefferson, not quite sure what to make of her comments.  After a moment, she made eye contact, reading the unspoken question on his face – _how could you say something like that?_  The teacher seemed uncomfortable for a split second, but then the snarl returned to her lip.  "Mister Nabholtz, would you please retract that … that _thing_ into your body, or whatever it is you do with it."

The flat-screen television on his arm was still showing the news.  Drew gave it a moment's concentration, and with a faint gurgling _schwerrrrp_, the screen dissolved back into silver-green nano-goo.  As his arm smoothed itself out, he realized that several students were silently watching him.  It wasn't unusual – frequent stares were something that he'd had to get used to.  But these weren't stares of fascination.  They seemed to carry the same unspoken message as his teacher's snarl:  _You're one of them, and you are not to be trusted._

He shuffled uncomfortably in his seat, as the teacher walked up and down the aisles distributing quizzes.  He thought about quickly morphing his appearance to mimic his old human self; sure, it would just be a surface repaint, but it might calm people down.  Then he decided against it.  _It's not who I am anymore.  It probably wouldn't make any difference anyway._  Times like this really increased his respect and sympathy for Jenny.  It really was hard being the only robot in school; Tremorton High had never felt more lonely, more hostile to him.  And this is what Jenny had gone through for most of the school year, all by herself, before the Cluster nanobot incident had increased the ranks of teenage robots by one.

_Maybe the pressure finally got to her_, he wondered.  Then just as quickly, he brushed the thought aside.  _No, stupid, that doesn't make any sense at all!  For crying out loud, just two days ago they were throwing roses at her feet!  She was happier than I'd seen her in weeks.  No, something screwy is going on._

The fresh silence in the classroom was suddenly pierced by an electronic ring tone.  Every student in the class instinctively went for their cell phones.  Mrs. Jefferson's icy glare dropped the temperature of the room to sub-arctic levels.  "Who has their cell phone on during class?" she hissed.

One by one, the students confirmed that their phones were silent.  Gradually, they figured out the source of the ringing – and a few seconds later, the entire class was staring at Drew.

Brad waved to get his attention.  "Umm, Drew … your _eyes_ are _flashing_."

"Wow," gulped Drew, "I've never gotten a call on my _new_ phone before."  Along with his new inventory of electronic schematics, he'd gotten an unlisted phone number.  He briefly scanned the information that scrolled across the inside of his eyes.  "_Yipes_, this is a video call.  But who'd be calling me at school?"

Drew's left hand warbled with waves of silver-green, and expanded into another flat panel, with his thumb stretching into an antenna.  The screen hummed into existence … and an annoyed scientist with frazzled white hair looked out of his hand at him.  "Dr. Wakeman?!?" he gasped.

"Hello, Andrew.  I trust the video phone is working satisfactorily," she said, in her no-nonsense voice.

"Doc, what's going on?  Nobody's heard from you since yesterday.  Is everything all right …"

Suddenly he was aware of a foreboding presence hovering over him like the grim reaper.  Mrs. Jefferson loomed over his desk, arms folded, burning a hole into his forehead with her eyes.  Drew gave her a weak little smile.  "Um … this is probably important.  Maybe I should take this outside."  And before she could threaten him with detention, or something worse, he bolted out the door and into the hallway.

Dr. Wakeman didn't slow down for a second.  "Andrew, we have no time for this nonsense," she said, in a lecturing tone.  "I have several urgent tasks for you to perform, and I only have one phone call in which to communicate them to you.  Now pay attention and take notes.  First of all …"

"Whoa whoa whoa there, Doc!"  This was all catching him off guard.  "Look, where are you?  Why are you calling me?  Shouldn't you be checking on Jenny to see if she's all right?"

"If I were to communicate with XJ-9 at the present time, the call would most likely be traced."  Dr. Wakeman's face took on a grave expression.  "And if the authorities learned of her present location, it would most likely be very unhealthy for her.  As for where I am … that would be the Tremorton regional offices of the FBI.  As you might imagine, I've been answering a great number of their questions over the past twenty-four hours."

"The FBI?  Holy _crap._"  The doctor was in some serious trouble.  Drew took a deep breath, and opened a new file in his computer memory.  "All right, I'm saving a copy of this call, Doc.  Fire away."

"Go to my house immediately, and do three things."  Dr. Wakeman raised a single finger.  "First, retrieve XJ-9's telemetry logs from the diagnostics unit in her bedroom.  They have an encoded date-stamp, which I can use to prove that she spent the entire night in her bedroom when the first sabotage took place.  Second, call my lawyer, and have him bring those logs downtown to the FBI offices."

"Okay … what's your lawyer's phone number?"

"Speed dial two," she sighed.  "Right between my repairman and my insurance agent.  And last, while you are in XJ-9's room, I want you to place her monitors and alarms on call forward."

"Call forward, gotcha.  Er … what phone number do you want me to forward them to?"

"Why … _yours_, of course."

Drew stared blankly into his hand for a few seconds, convinced that he must have misheard her.  "I'm sorry, Doc, could you say that last part again?  It … heh-heh-heh … almost sounded like you told me to forward all of Jenny's trouble alarms to _my_ phone number."

"That is precisely what I said, Andrew.  Just because XJ-9 and I have our own problems to work out, does not mean that the world is suddenly immune from danger!  You're been studying from her manuals for a few weeks, now.  No better time to put it all into practice!"

"Uh, Doc?  _Hel-lo?_  Reading manual disks is one thing," he stammered.  "I'm not ready for something like this!  Geez … yeah, I've tagged along with Jenny a couple of times for training, but … d'oh, man, what am I supposed to do if a call comes in from China?  Hitchhike?"

"Oh, for goodness sake," she huffed, rolling her eyes.  "All you have to do is go down to the basement and look underneath the yellow tarp.  You'll find everything you need there.  Now, don't just stand there with your mouth hanging open like a codfish.  On your way, now!  Go!"

The picture faded to black, and the video screen gurgled back into the shape of a hand.  Drew nervously rubbed the back of his head, still digesting his sudden, terrible responsibility.  "As Groucho Marx might say," he sighed aloud, "I don't think I want to live on a planet that relies on _me_ to protect it."  He took off in a sprint towards the school exit, his metal footsteps echoing down the empty corridor.

One student, brooding at his desk, had overheard the entire phone call.

Sheldon was racked with grief and worry for his beloved Jenny.  The last twenty-four hours had been sheer torture for him, as he agonized in empathy for his _objet d'amour_.  Every time some blow-dried bimbo on the TV news called Jenny a traitor, Sheldon felt the pain like a spear to his pounding heart.  Every time some jealous Jezebel like Brit Krust badmouthed her, he bubbled with indignant rage.  In the span of twenty-four hours, it seemed like the entire planet had turned against his Jenny.  _That's why she needs me now more than ever before_, he moaned to himself.

He glanced over at Drew's empty desk, snarling.  Ever since the accident that had transformed this Johnny-come-lately into a real-life android, Sheldon had endured watching this interloper spend more and more time with his girl.  Drew had insisted that he and Jenny were simply friends.  _A likely story_, Sheldon harrumphed to himself.  Jenny had told him that she liked having Drew around, because it was nice to have the company of another robot.  _Ah, sweet Jenny, so trusting, so naïve …_ he didn't trust that slippery shape-shifter as far as he could throw him.  And lately, Drew had been spending even more time with Jenny, in after-school "training sessions".  _Yeah, I'll just bet I know what he's been studying._

And now, when Jenny was in her hour of greatest need, what was Stretch Armstrong going to do?  Go out to look for his "friend", to help her?  No!  He was going to try and _replace_ her!  Sheldon balled his fists, shaking with righteous fury.  _Replace her!  The nerve!  Imagine, anyone thinking that they could replace Jenny!  That … that usurper!_

He tapped his pimpled chin, deep in thought while Mrs. Jefferson droned on with her history lesson.  Sheldon made a decision.  Jenny was in serious trouble; she needed real help.  Now wasn't the time to give a rookie on-the-job training.  The situation called … for a _real hero_.

* * *

Continued in Chapter Five  /  Eight Days to Cluster Dawn

* * *


	5. Hideouts and Shootouts

* * *

Betrayal From Within

A "My Life as a Teenage Robot" Fanfic

Chapter Five – Hideouts and Shootouts

* * *

Tuck gingerly walked over the rope bridge that spanned the gully, making sure he always had two hands on the guide ropes.  Even though he'd crossed it dozens of times, he still wasn't up to running over it, like his older brother could.  The slightest oscillation in the bridge would still creep him out.  After a few more cautious steps, he finally made it to the grove of trees on the other side, and broke into a flat-out run.  His feet kicked up loose twigs and pine cones as he sprinted down the well-worn forest path.  "Wait up!  Wait up!  Come on, Brad, slow down!"

"_Ehh_, maybe you just need to hurry up, shrimp boat."  Brad didn't even look back over his shoulder as he walked briskly through the woods, his hands rammed into his pockets.  He was in a foul mood.  He'd been in a foul mood all day long.

It was a beautiful spring day to be in the woods, just outside the suburbs of Tremorton.  But Brad wasn't out here to enjoy nature.  He needed to get away from the madness back in his neighborhood – the circus that surrounded the Wakeman house.  The street hadn't been empty since yesterday – there was always a black van or a news truck parked on the curb, and others continually circled the block like vultures.  His family had already talked to annoying government officials, nosy policemen, and obnoxious reporters.  Brad didn't want to deal with any of that right now.  He just wanted to get away.

The sound of a little pair of heaving lungs told him that his brother had caught up to him.  "Thanks for waiting up," Tuck grumbled.  "Leaving a little kid to walk all alone through the forest …"

"Oh, give it a rest, Tuck, you're out here by yourself all the time," Brad snarled back.  "Besides, we wouldn't even be here if _you_ hadn't forgotten the baseball gloves in your stupid tree house.  So grow up a little and stop complaining like a _baby_ all the time!"

He immediately regretted saying it, and saw the hurt that registered in Tuck's huge, quivering eyes.  "Tuck, look – I'm sorry for …"

Tuck's lower lip pouted a bit.  "I miss Jenny too," he sniffed.

They left the path at a memorized spot, and shortly afterwards arrived at Tuck's tree house, hidden in the branches of a stately oak.  Once just a few planks nailed together to make a platform in the sky, the brothers had worked together to add some walls and a roof.  Now it was a fortress of solitude, a place to read comic books, and get sick on Twinkies.  Or to use as an escape, when they felt the crushing pressure of the world bearing down on them – like it was right now.

"Those jerks at school, I'd like to give them all smack in the head," Brad growled, as he climbed up the boards nailed into the trunk of the tree.  He swung himself up to the floor, with Tuck just a few steps behind him.  "Always ready to blame Jenny for everything!"

"Well, maybe this is like when her dream chip went _kablooie_," said Tuck, as he pulled himself up into his tree house.  It wasn't huge, but it still managed to collect a big mess.  There were a couple of chairs, an old orange crate for a table, and a pile of toys and board games against the wall.  There were still shovels and toboggans underneath an old blanket, left over from construction of his snow fort last winter.  The baseball gloves were sitting on an old lawn chair, right where he'd forgotten them.

"This isn't like that at all," said Brad, as lobbed a baseball in the air.  "That was an accident.  Whoever's wrecking all that army stuff is doing it _deliberately_.  And everyone just assumed it was Jenny.  Now she's out there, somewhere … running for her life."  Brad flung the baseball against the wall, catching it on the rebound.  "We might never see her again.  She might be hiding on some desert island.  Or at the north pole.  Or on the moon, for all we know!"  Brad flung the baseball extra-hard, seething with frustration, and missed it on the rebound.  The baseball ricocheted into the blanket, bouncing off the snow shovels with a loud _clang_ …'.

And a squeal of pain.  "_Ow!_" shouted a familiar voice.  The boys were momentarily spooked, as something pushed the blanket aside …

Then Jenny sat upright, blinking her eyes after being rudely woken from her sleep mode, and rubbed her forehead.  "Be careful with that baseball, guys … a girl could get a nasty dent."

She was knocked backwards by a black-haired bundle of energy jumping into her metallic lap.  Tuck flung his arms around her neck, glomming onto her like a baby koala.  Brad dropped to the floor next to her, with a huge grin on his face.  "Jenny!  We were so worried about you after the way the Army was freaking out yesterday.  Did they hurt you at all?  Are you all right?"

"Are you malfunctioning?  Being controlled by aliens?!?" asked Tuck excitedly.

Jenny chuckled as she pulled Tuck away from her neck – the first time she'd even smiled in over a day.  "Wow, is it ever good to see you guys!  I was a little worried when I heard noises outside.  I'm all right.  Well … I'm _mostly_ all right."  It was only then that the brothers noticed the sharp, crackling sound of electrical sparks.  Jenny's left arm was exposing a couple of severed wires.

Brad was horrified.  "Jen!  Oh, man … just relax, and lay back.  Tuck, get off of her, now!"  He pulled him off by the collar, and started to get a little hyper.  "Jenny, just lie there calmly, and we'll go get a doctor.  No, wait – we'll go get a mechanic."

"Guys, guys, relax … Mom could fix it in thirty seconds with a pair of pliers."  She tried to smile, but didn't do a convincing job.  "I spent most of yesterday getting shot at by just about everyone you can imagine.  I got pretty roughed up … it's tough being in a fight when you can't fight back.  I needed a place to hide, but I didn't know where to go.  Then I remembered Tuck saying that he came _here_ to hide from your dad, that time he spilled house paint all over the living room carpet.  So I managed to sneak here after dark, and went into sleep mode to run self-repairs.  Hope you don't mind."

"Of course we don't mind!" said Tuck – then he folded his arms in a huff.  "And that bucket of paint had no business being in the living room in the first place!"

"So you've been hiding here ever since last night ..."  Brad pounded his fist into the baseball glove.  "I _knew_ it!  There were more sabotage attacks overnight.  This proves it wasn't you!  All right, once we tell the authorities about this, you'll be totally in the clear!"

With a tired _whirr_, her eyelids drooped, and her face took on a heavy, pained expression.  "Brad … you know and I know that they're never going to believe you.  They wouldn't listen to me yesterday.  What makes you think they'll listen to me today?"  She paused, and sunk her head into her chest.  Brad could see the hurt on her face.  Then he noticed that Jenny was holding onto something in her right hand …

It was the medal she'd been given by the mayor during Monday's ceremony.  She noticed Brad looking at it.  "From 'Jenny Wakeman Day' to Public Enemy Number One in twenty-four hours," she snorted.  "Everyone thinks I'm a traitor, now."

"_Pfft_ … you're not a traitor, Jenny."  Brad folded his arms indignantly.  "You're a hero.  You're the greatest hero that this city has ever seen."

"Thanks, Brad.  I know that _you_ believe that."  Her robotic shoulder heaved with a deep sigh.  "But I'm not sure if anyone _else_ feels that way.  Do I even want to _know_ what the kids at school are saying about me?"

Brad didn't say a word, but one look into his face told her everything.  "That's what I figured," she said.

"What are you going to do now?" asked Tuck.

"Well, you guys said that there have been more sabotage attacks since last night.  The only way to prove that I'm innocent is to go out there and catch the big jerk who's been impersonating me."  Jenny flexed her left arm, and a new spattering of sparks leapt from the wires sticking out of her elbow.  "_Ow!_  I wish I was at full strength, but I guess this'll have to do."

"Well, hold on a minute."  Brad rummaged around in his pockets for a second, and pulled out a Swiss army knife.  "Look, maybe we can help fix you up, Jen.  Just tell us what you need."

She slumped against the wall, and her face grew sad again.  "Look, you guys … you shouldn't even be anywhere around me.  If someone ever found out, you could be in big trouble!  You might get arrested – just like my mom.  I don't want you guys to go to jail because of me!  Just take off, and try to forget you even saw me here.  I'll go find a different hiding spot."

"Like _heck_ you will."  Brad stared at her intensely, until she raised her face to meet his eyes.  He almost seemed upset by her request; his face was set with determination beyond his years.  "No way are we going to abandon you.  You're going to stay right here until you're all fixed up, and then we're going to help you prove that you're totally innocent.  And there's really not much you can do about it."

"Yeah!" added Tuck, perching his fists on his hips in a heroic pose.  "That goes double for me!"

Jenny silently rubbed her elbow for a few moments, and a huge smile spread across her face.  "You two guys are so _awesome_," she grinned.  "I don't know how much repair work we can do on my elbow.  But I did lose a little bit of oil yesterday.  I could definitely go for quart of 10-W-30."

"Done and done," said Brad.  "Tuck, dad keeps a case of motor oil in the garage!  Go get a couple of quarts, and come back here.  Don't let anyone see you."

Tuck snapped a brisk military salute, clamored down the stepping boards to the ground, and took off in a sprint for home.  Brad gently lifted Jenny's left arm, and rested it on his lap.  He grabbed an old six-volt flashlight from the corner of the tree house, and positioned it to shine on the elbow.

Jenny shook her head, laughing.  "Brad, it's just some loose wires.  It's not going to fall off!  Besides, just how much do you _know_ about fixing robots?"

"Oh, I'm pretty handy with a screwdriver.  I, ah … heh-heh … do all my own work on my _hog_.  You know … my bicycle."  He wiggled his eyebrows, getting a laugh out of her – he simply refused to allow her to be upset whenever he was around.  He poked around the small gap in her elbow, and quickly realized that Jenny's design was _far_ more complex than his bicycle's gear-shift.  But just maybe …

"The sparks are coming from these two exposed wires," he realized.  "I've got no idea how to fix them, but I think I can get them to stop sparking.  Try and hold your arm still for a second."  Brad fumbled around in the piles of junk next to him, and found a roll of masking tape.  "Not too high tech, but it'll work."

"All right, _Doctor Carbunkle_," she joked, as he cut off tiny strips of tape.  Then she grew more serious, as he patiently worked the strips around the fine wiring in her elbow.  "Brad … thanks for sticking up for me.  I realize it must be tough for you at school.  After all, all the TV news stations are showing pictures of me blowing things up.  Whoever's doing it looks just like me.  It's pretty convincing."

Brad silently finished his makeshift repair job.  Then he looked his best friend in the eyes.  "Maybe it's convincing for anyone who doesn't _know_ you.  But I know what you're really like, Jen.  These yo-yos at school and on the TV don't have a clue … they'll always jump at the chance to dump on you.  But no matter what happens … I'll _always_ believe in you, Jen."

It grew quiet in the tree house all of the sudden.  Jenny could only smile back, rendered momentarily speechless by Brad's unshakeable friendship – and his big dumb trademark _everything's-going-to-be-alright_ grin.  Then she noticed that the electrical sparking had actually stopped.  There were two ugly patches of masking tape on her wires, but they weren't short-circuiting anymore.  _I shouldn't be surprised_, she thought to herself.  _Everything just seems to be alright whenever Brad's around_.

"I'll zip back to town and sneak over your house," said Brad.  "There's got to be some kind of maintenance kit in your mom's lab that I could bring back here.  Just hope that repair holds while I'm gone."

"Well, let's give it a little test, then."  Tiny motors whirred throughout the arm, and Jenny flexed her elbow and wrist, slowly reaching out to grab Brad's hand.  Then she flexed her robotic knuckles, gently sliding her fingers between his, and squeezed firmly.  Brad chuckled, squeezed back, and let their clasped hands fall into his lap.

"Fine motor control test – check," giggled Jenny.

"Grasping mechanism test – check," chuckled Brad.  It was good to hear her laugh.

* * *

A thin contrail weaved its way across the azure-blue sky, looping and swerving and barely under control.  Most of the plant's workers were scrambling for their cars, desperate to escape the impending catastrophe.  But a few of them stopped, and took notice of the smoke trail on the horizon that grew closer and closer.  They shielded their eyes and squinted into the air, trying to make out the approaching projectile.  Then they gradually heard the roar of a rocket engine, rising above the wail of klaxon alarms.  The object made a last-minute course correction – and suddenly it was heading straight for them.

Something that looked like a giant silver-green paper airplane, with a jet pack strapped to the top of it, crashed into the parking lot like a falling meteor.  Screaming workers dove for cover as the silver-green airfoil tumbled end-over-end across the lot, gouging out a furrow in the earth.  At the front of the main building, a group of men in hard hats were gathered around the hood of a white utility van, looking over a large blueprint and shouting into walkie-talkies.  Suddenly one of them noticed the approaching danger, and the men scattered – just before the silver airfoil slammed into the side of the van, nearly knocking it over from the force of its impact.

Completely baffled, a large man whose hard hat read _Plant Supervisor_ approached the smoking debris.  The shiny paper airplane had been reduced to a pile of silver-green wreckage … then it began to gurgle and shimmer, as if it were made of metallic gelatin.  Waves of distortion coursed through it, transforming it into a doughy, amorphous silver blob.  Then the supervisor nearly had a heart attack, as a fountain of silver goo leapt upwards, in seeming defiance of the laws of physics.  Within seconds, the silver goo molded itself into the image of a frazzled-looking teenage boy.

"Any landing you can flow away from …" moaned Drew, as he smoothed out his crumpled forehead.  Dr. Wakeman's jet pack was definitely going to take some getting used to.  He gradually took notice of the sounds and panic around him; then he gathered his bearings, and shouted to the stunned technicians.  "You guys!  An emergency call came in from a place called Spruce Ridge.  Is this it?"

"Yes, it is," barked the plant supervisor, eyeing him suspiciously.  "And just what the Sam Hill are _you_ supposed to be?  Are you from Emergency Services?"

"Uh … okay, sure – let's go with that," answered Drew.  "What's all the ruckus about …"

It was only then that he noticed that the trail of smoke he'd been following was coming from a large hole in the side of a strange-looking concrete building, just in front of him.  There were two of them, with identical tall, concave profiles.  Rows of high-tension electrical towers spread away from each of them, stretching off towards the horizon.  A large sign was posted next to the front door …

"Welcome to Spruce Ridge Nuclear Power Station … holy _schnikey_!  _Nuclear Power Station!!!_"  Drew flung his arms into the air, wild-eyed with near-hysteria.  "Oh, for the love of … _arrrgghh_ … my first solo gig, and I get a _nuclear reactor_!?!  Aw, geez … _no pressure_, huh!?!" 

The supervisor pointed up to the hole in the giant cooling tower, a hundred feet off the ground.  "An explosion rocked the whole plant a few minutes ago – came out of nowhere.  Some of the men think they saw something come out of the sky.  All I know is, something attacked our operations room, and we can't control the reactor any more.  There's a manual shutoff inside that tower, but my men can't reach it!"

"Well that's _just great_," groaned Drew.  He racked his brain for a moment, and noticed the walkie-talkie in the supervisor's hand.  "Okay, walkie-talkie, walkie-talkie … I can do one of those."  Drew concentrated for a moment, and a thin ribbon of nano-goo flowed out of the side of his head, forming a microphone in front of his face.  "Can you give me directions to the manual shutoff with this thing?"

The supervisor slapped him on the back enthusiastically.  "You'd better believe I can!  We've got less than six minutes before that reactor goes critical.  Get moving!"

Drew picked up the jet-pack, and flowed his body around the straps and fasteners as fast as he could.  "Couldn't get a cat stuck in a tree … oh, _no_," he grumbled.  "Right off the bat, I get Three Mile Island."  He mashed the red button on the control stick.  The technicians shielded themselves from the exhaust, as the silver-green android made the quick hop up to the hole in the side of Cooling Tower One.

The inside of the cooling tower was a three-dimensional maze of giant pipes.  The dull yellow emergency lamps and the rotating alert sirens combined to fill the interior with a bizarre dance of shadows.  Screeching columns of superheated steam flowed from dozens of pipes; whatever had attacked the cooling tower had already done extensive damage.  Scaffolding ran everywhere, giving access to the machinery that supported the reactors, which themselves were located underground.  Over the walkie-talkie, the plant supervisor explained that there were emergency control rods at the bottom of the tower.  They could be triggered by hand to safely extinguish the nuclear reaction.  However, due to the superheated steam leaks, it was close to two hundred degrees inside the tower.  Lethal for humans, but not a problem for androids.

With a quick _schwerrrrp_, Drew's hands and feet morphed into clamps.  He leapt forward and grabbed onto a giant vertical pipe, then began walking on all fours, straight down, like a squirrel skittering down a tree.  It was difficult for him to see as he crawled through billowing clouds of superheated steam.  But he wasn't worried about heat – he was worried about radioactivity.  His body's network of sensors told him that radiation levels were still low – but they were on the rise.

"Look for a large red and yellow lever, with a sign that says 'Emergency Crash'," the supervisor explained over the walkie-talkie.  "That's what we call an emergency reactor shutdown."

"I think I see it just below me," Drew shouted.  Weaving his body around an intersection of pipes, he could now see to the bottom of the cooling tower.  And right in the middle, there was a thick slab of concrete, pierced with dozens and dozens of tall, thin brass cylinders.  Immediately next to the slab of concrete was a pole painted with red and yellow stripes, and a large emergency handle.

With a smile of relief, he slid down the giant pipe like a fireman's pole, and dropped the last twenty feet to splash down next to the emergency handle.  "Bingo!  One emergency crash coming right up.  Well hey, that wasn't so tough after all ..."

The brilliant blast of laser energy caught him in the right shoulder, spinning him in circles before he crashed spectacularly into a support beam with a moist _thud_.

Even as his nanobot body instinctively repaired the damage, it took Drew a moment to realize what had just happened.  Somebody had just shot at him – while he was trying to prevent a nuclear meltdown, for Criminy's sake!  His arms flung out to brace against a pair of steel girders, and he scanned the dim interior of the tower, looking for something – anything – that didn't belong.  But the boiling clouds of steam and the chaotic sirens made it almost impossible to concentrate …

Something came at him, from the direction in which he'd been shot at.  A silhouette in the steam rocketed towards him on twin blue flames.  Drew just had time to recognize it as a humanoid robot before it slammed into him with a high-speed tackle.

His body gave way upon impact, but he held fast to the steel girders with his arms, and wrapped his legs firmly around his attacker.  Suddenly, instead of merely being a tackling dummy, he was using his assailant's momentum to his own advantage.  The two robots swung violently against a bank of horizontal pipes, colliding with an impact that ripped a hole in two-inch-thick steel.  Drew tumbled across the concrete floor, but he quickly righted himself.  He grinned as he watched the attacker spin into a stack of orange barrels, and stumble back to its feet.  _A month or so ago, I would have been a stain on the wall by now, buddy._  But he wasn't a pushover anymore, thanks to all those training sessions with –

"_Jenny!?!?_"

Drew's jaw dropped, as he saw his friend snarling in disgust at him through the steam.  His mind raced, and his heart sank.  He couldn't believe it – he didn't want to believe it – but here was Jenny, not more than twenty feet in front of him.  She had a short laser cannon deployed from her left arm, which would account for the blast that had almost taken his head off.  Jenny really was the saboteur, and she was willing to fire at him.  Correction – already _had_ fired at him.  And she was preparing to do it again.

Drew raised his hands, hoping he'd be able to reason with her.  "Jenny, come on – I know there's got to be a good reason for this.  Tell me how I can help.  I don't want to fight you!"

Jenny leveled her weapon at his chest, and it glowed with a pale blue light.

"You're still mad about the whole 'I'm a little teapot' thing.  And that's cool!  I can understand that!"

Another shaft of searing energy crackled through the roiling steam.  Drew's body snapped into an evasive shape, but the laser still managed to slice off his left hand, just above the wrist.  The glow from the laser hadn't even died off, when Jenny ignited her pigtail-jets, and made another charge at him while he was still disoriented.  Drew didn't know what to do.  All of the sudden, his robot friend seemed possessed of a killer instinct, intent on destroying him.  And he simply could not accept that.

Jenny crashed into Drew again, engines firing at full thrust, and drove him through the scaffolding towers – before he could re-absorb his detached hand.  Drew's body shuddered against the impact of dozens of pieces of steel tubing.  He twisted his head around backwards, and to his horror, realized that Jenny was pushing him towards a massive power generator, and its whirling high-speed turbine blade.  The blade would chop him into countless pieces, like a giant food processor.  He'd never tried to re-assemble himself from something like that.  He didn't want to practice _now_.

Instead of trying to escape Jenny's grip, he flowed his right hand over her eyes.  Furiously, she clutched at his grasp, flying blind through the maze of pipes and scaffolds.  They missed the turbine blades, and ricocheted off of a giant water pipe, heading off in a random direction.  The world spun in dizzying circles, and then Drew realized that they were heading directly for the concrete wall at top speed …

The remaining workers outside ducked, as two robots exploded through the wall of the cooling tower, showering the parking lot with boulder-sized chunks of rebar concrete.  Jenny finally wrenched her arms underneath Drew's grasp, and pried him free.  They split apart and tumbled to the asphalt in separate directions, rolling and clattering fifty feet apiece until they came to a stop.

Drew's body gurgled and shimmered with waves of self-repair, and he spun around to face Jenny once more, desperately hoping to talk some sense into her.  "Jenny, for Pete's sake, let me go back inside and turn the reactor off!  Do you realize how many people will get hurt if there's a meltdown?"

Then he realized that Jenny was very badly damaged.  Her right leg had been severed at the knee, and was lying a few feet away in a shallow crater.  She got up on one leg, glared furiously at Drew, and hopped over to the crater where her leg sat.

Then the detached leg began to shimmer with waves of silvery-red distortion.  The robotic limb quivered for a second, then liquefied into a mass of silvery-copper jello, shuddering with nervous energy.  Thin tendrils of goo sprang from the mass, and snaked up to join with Jenny's leg stump, which itself was shimmering with waves of silver-red.  Drew stared at her in shock as the puddle of goo flowed out of the crater, and reformed into a streamlined leg housing, complete with pale blue trim.

He grasped for words.  "What … the _heck_ … are you?"

"Jenny" simply smiled back at Drew, and raised her laser cannon once more, aiming for his head.

Drew grit his teeth, trying to summon as much courage as he could find in his nanobot body.  On one hand, he was terrified … _that robot just did something that only I'm supposed to be able to do_.  But he was also relieved – this meant that the saboteur was definitely not Jenny.  The gloves could come off.  He steeled his nerves, and flung his arms out to his sides, letting them stretch into long, curved nano-blades …

Then they were both knocked backwards, as a laser bolt slammed into the pavement between them.

Neither of them had been hurt, but both Drew and "Jenny" were extremely confused.  They stared into the sky, trying to find the source of the mystery blast.  They didn't have to look for long.

A huge silver saucer, twelve feet across, spun through the air like a giant discus, powered by glowing jets of rocket exhaust that circled its body.  It swooped dramatically over their heads, and curled through the air with a graceful ease.  Then it came to a stop in midair, hovering twenty feet off the ground … and started to transform.  The giant discus divided into pie-shaped sections.  Two wedges swung outwards, and extended a pair of robotic hands that were clenched in triumphant fists.  Another pair of wedges swung downwards, unfolding into powerful robotic legs.  Finally, a head deployed from the top … with a robotic face, a masculine jaw, and a pompous grin.

The saucer had transformed into a twelve-foot tall silver robot, who struck a photo-op pose, then dropped to the ground with an impressive crash.  He thrust out his fantastically massive chest, which was adorned with a stylized spiral, and flexed his robotic biceps for all to admire.  His mighty jaw jutted outwards, and his voice bellowed a single word, rising above the wail of the klaxon alarms …

"EXCELSIOR!"

* * *

Continued in Chapter Six  /  Eight Days to Cluster Dawn

* * *


	6. Secrets Revealed

A/N – Just wanted to once again say thanks to all you people out there leaving reviews, both new and old.  They really mean a lot to me, and they make writing these fics worthwhile.  So without further ado …

* * *

Betrayal From Within

A "My Life as a Teenage Robot" Fanfic

Chapter Six – Secrets Revealed

* * *

The mighty twelve-foot-tall silver robot struck an impressive pose, standing between Drew and Jenny, basking in the awe and admiration of the plant workers.  The sunshine glistened brightly off of his perfectly polished chrome, and a cocky grin adorned his metallic face.  He waved to the enthusiastically cheering crowd, even as the sirens blared from Cooling Tower One.  Then he clutched a fist over his swelling chest in a melodramatic salute, and addressed the workers with a booming, heroic voice.

"Fear not, good citizens, your cries for help have been heard!  I – the Silver Shell – shall save you!"

Drew was still blinking away the dizziness from the unexpected laser blast, but when he realized who it was, he smiled with relief.  "All right, sweet!  I _finally_ catch a break!  Hey, Silver Shell, I've seen your T-shirts down at the mall …"

The Shell held his hand up to Drew's face in a halting gesture, cutting him off.  "Yes, yes, yes, whatever.  Now, why don't you just slither along, amateur, and let a _real_ hero take care of this!"

"Wha .. I don't _slither_!"  The tone of the Shell's voice caught him by surprise.  "And … and with all due respect, don't you think two against one gives us better odds?  Look, I can help you out here …"

"I don't need help from the likes of _you_," bellowed the Silver Shell, rudely shoving Drew aside.  "Oh, I'm onto your little game, _mister_.  First you spend more time with Jenny, then you try to replace her … and now you're using this current time of crisis as an excuse to _destroy_ her!"  His eyes burned with righteous fury, and his voice dripped with condescension.  "Boy, I've seen some pretty rotten things in my day, but you really take the cake, pal!"

"_WHAT!?!_"  It took Drew a few seconds to digest an accusation _that_ ridiculous.  "_Destroy_ her?  Wait … look, dude, you don't understand!  That's not really …"

"XJ-9 is obviously not feeling like herself," sneered the Shell.  "So observe a _master_ at work!  With my superb mental abilities and negotiating skills, only _I_ can guide Jenny back from the precipice of evil, to the side of truth, justice, and the American way!"  Then he leaned down, and gave Drew a knowing wink.  "Besides … _heh-heh_ … she's got a _thing_ for me."

Ignoring Drew's protests, the flamboyant hero strutted confidently towards Jenny, who was glaring at him with an annoyed frown.  She had seemed concerned and confused when the Shell first arrived, but now she appeared to be hostile and impatient.  None of that seemed to register on the Shell, however.  He planted his hands on his hips, and flashed her a debonair smile.

"Now, XJ-9 … I know you're under a lot of stress these days," he grinned.  "And I see you're trying to find an outlet for your _aggression issues_.  But just because you _can_ level a nuclear plant, doesn't mean that you _should_!  Remember, XJ-9 … with great power … comes great responsibility!"

Jenny's arm flashed out in the blink of an eye, and grabbed the Silver Shell by the wrist.  With a vicious heave, she pulled him off of his feet, whirled him through the air, and slammed his massive body to the pavement with a deafening crash.  Then she yanked the stunned crime-fighter out of his asphalt crater, swung him back into the air, and over her head into another brutal body slam.  The Shell bounced twice, then lay on the ground for a few moments, groaning in agony.

Drew slapped his forehead in disbelief.  "Where do you get your negotiation skills from?!?  _Comic books?!?_  I tried to tell you, that's not really Jenny …"

"You are interfering with my mission," growled Jenny.  "All opponents must be _eliminated_."  She raised the laser cannon on her arm, and aimed it directly at the Silver Shell's chest.  A look of horror came over his metal face, as her weapon crackled with a brilliant blue light …

But Drew had already catapulted himself into the air with a frenzied leap.  His arms sloshed away from his body, and morphed into a pair of long, curved blades, with nano-thin edges a few atoms thick.  Looping over the Shell's head, he swung his arm in a lightning-fast motion, and landed behind Jenny with an awkward slip and a clumsy roll.  A perfect cut appeared below Jenny's left elbow – and then her forearm, laser and all, clattered to the ground.

The Shell's great jaw dropped in astonishment.  The severed arm quivered for a moment … then liquefied into a silvery-red puddle of sludge.  The shiny pool of liquid wormed its way back towards Jenny, and flowed into her leg, which absorbed it with a gurgling _schhluurrrp_.

"Camouflage has been compromised," she growled, "reverting to default settings."  A ripple of distortion traveled from Jenny's head to her toes, and suddenly her entire body transformed into a shuddering pillar of silver-red sludge.  The pillar grew over a foot in height, and pairs of shimmering arms and legs oozed off from the body, each flexing a set of claws with rounded talons.  A harsh, curved face with dull red eyes bulged out of the top, and grew two long, thin antennae.  Finally, the shimmering stopped, and an eight-foot tall silver-red insectoid robot stood where "Jenny" had been only seconds before.

Its eyes narrowed into a pair of slits, and glared at Drew with a smoldering fury.  "Secondary target identified.  Mission Directive – annihilate renegade nanobot-droid."

Fear gripped Drew's mind as the Omni-droid assumed an aggressive stance.  "Those are nanobots," he shouted, "oh, _geez_, those are Cluster nanobots!"

The Omni-droid grew _four_ long, flexible arms from its body; a pair of long, curved blades, like scythes, and a pair of cylindrical weapon barrels that looked like …laser blasters.  It was only _then_ that Drew realized something.  This new android had imitated Jenny, right down to duplicating her laser beams and rocket engines.  High-energy weapons and complex machinery – two things that he _couldn't do_.  These nanobots were _more advanced_ than he was.

A booming announcement from the plant's PA system echoed over the wail of the alarms.  "Core temperature at maximum limit and rising.  Meltdown in two minutes.  Evacuate immediately."

The Omni-droid jumped towards Drew like a blast from a fire hose, churning the air with its razor-sharp scythe-arms.  Drew flowed flat into a puddle on the ground, evading the attack.  He re-formed behind the silver insect, and swung his arm-blades at its torso.  But the Omni-droid's arms simply flipped around backwards, and blocked Drew's counter-attack.  It pinned one of his arm-blades between two quickly formed claws, and with quick twist, it snapped off.  Then the Omni-droid blasted the severed piece with a laser beam … reducing it to a cloud of fine gray ash.

Drew curled his body around and swung his blades again, striking the Omni-droid in the leg, but the blades stuck, as if trapped in thick tar.  Long claws curled out from the Cluster droid's body, and suddenly Drew and the Omni-droid had pulled themselves into each other, beginning a surreal frenzy of close-quarters combat.  Dueling pretzels of silvery goo thrashed against each other, flowed through each other, and hurled blades, spikes, and mallets at each other – but only one combatant could shoot lasers, and every laser blast would result in a chunk of silver-green sludge being vaporized.  The Omni-droid was winning.

A silver-green blob grew out of the nanobot melee, and morphed into Drew's panicked face.  "Acckk … Yo!  Shell … dude!  Little help!"

"Huh?  Ooh, right!"  The Silver Shell sprang to his feet, and his eyes glowed a deep blue.  "Eat hot laser, evildoer!"  His eyes flared a brilliant indigo, and a searing shaft of energy shot out of them …

Scoring a direct hit on Drew's head, which exploded into a shower of soot.  The two battling nanobot droids split apart, and a diminished silver-green blob hurtled through the air, splattering against the concrete wall of the cooling tower.

Drew gurgled back into android form … with a furious scowl on his face.  "Thanks a _LOT!!!_"

The Shell chuckled nervously.  "Oops … _heh-heh_ … my bad."

"One minute to core meltdown," boomed the plant's loudspeaker.

The Omni-droid turned its attention to the Silver Shell.  "Unidentified threat … you have fired upon me.  You will be _eliminated .._."  The robot began to advance towards the Shell, but suddenly paused … and something odd happened.  The Omni-droid shuddered slightly, and its voice changed … from cool and calm, to a deeper, arrogant bluster.  "… Tremble in fear before me!  I am a warrior, a Cluster champion!  I am a _destroyer of worlds!_"

The Omni-droid's behavior seemed a complete puzzle, but then just as abruptly, it switched back into calm, businesslike mode … and lunged directly at the Silver Shell.

Long, supple clamps flowed out of its body, and clamped onto the Shell's chest.  Silver-coppery tendrils shot out from its wrist, and affixed themselves to the Shell's forehead.  "Establishing interface," growled the Omni-droid.  "You will be assimilated into the Cluster."

The Shell swiped frantically at his chest, trying to knock away the giant silver-red insect.  "AAIIGGHH!  Get it off!  Get it off!  Get it off!"

The Omni-droid hung on tight, but a touch of confusion registered on its face.  "No electronic brain detected.  Internal computers must be heavily shielded.  I will access directly."  A new arm sprang from the middle of it back, with a claw that grabbed onto the Silver Shell's head … and _pulled it off_.  The metallic mask dropped to the pavement with a loud _clang_.  With the reflexes of a jungle predator, the Omni-droid flowed into a liquid stream, and poured itself _inside_ the massive hero's chest.

A hair-raising scream snapped Drew back to full alertness, and he saw the last of the Omni-droid flow into the Shell's body.  _Oh, no, that poor idiot's gonna get eaten alive!  Literally!_  With two long, arcing jumps, the silver-green android liquefied himself in mid-air, and plunged down the Silver Shell's neck, in hot pursuit of the Cluster intruder.

The headless body of the Silver Shell staggered randomly around the parking lot, waving his arms in a blind panic.  Crashes and rattles echoed from the Shell's huge chest, which spasmed chaotically from side to side, as the nanobot-androids did battle inside of it.  And rising above everything came the Shell's shrill, piercing scream … "EWWW!!!  Get it out!  Get it out!  Get it out!"

"Core temperature exceeding failure threshold," blared the PA.  "Thirty seconds to core meltdown."

Suddenly the Silver Shell's right hand start to wiggle … then it popped off, and a fountain of silver-red sludge gushed out of his wrist.  The Omni-droid flowed back into his insectoid form, and sprang a pair of tentacles from its body, with clamps in place of claws.  Drew tried to follow him out … but the Omni-droid grabbed onto the Shell's arm, and crushed it flat at his elbow and his wrist – trapping the silver-green android _inside_ of the forearm.

An ominous rumbling came from the bowels of Cooling Tower One.  There were only seconds left until all of Spruce Ridge was laid waste with radioactive fallout.  The Cluster robot stood at attention, waves of silver-red washed over its body, and it began to change shape, streamlining itself.  In seconds, it had morphed into a ten-foot rocket, and its engine screeched to life with a brilliant flame.  It climbed into the sky even as it grew a pair of swept wings, then leveled off like a cruise missile.

The Silver Shell was still panicking – he knew there were still nanobots inside of his arm, and he didn't care who they belonged to.  He swung his right arm frantically, desperately smashing it into the pavement.  "Icky!  Icky!  Icky!"

He swung so hard that his damaged arm broke off at the elbow, and streaked through the air …

And sailed right through the hole in the cooling tower's concrete wall.  The severed metallic arm, with Drew still inside, ricocheted off a pair of water pipes, punched through a cloud of superheated steam, and landed against a high-voltage power line … FFRRZZAAAAPP.  The electrified arm bounced away from the cable … and landed directly on the manual shutdown handle.

The wailing sirens cut off, and a calm voice flowed from the loudspeaker.  "Emergency Crash has been activated.  Reactor One is shutting down.  Core temperature decreasing.  Have a nice day!"

A chorus of cheers and applause erupted from the workers, as they threw their hard hats into the air in jubilation.  "The Silver Shell did it!"  "He chased away the saboteur!"  "He saved the reactor from melting down!"  "Hurray!  Hurray for the Silver Shell!  He did it!"

The Shell stumbled around the parking lot, looking for his detached head, when he finally became aware of the applause.  He located his head and twisted it back on, with a look of bewilderment on his face.  "I did?  Um … er …" – he struck another heroic pose – "… I mean, yes!  Of course I did!  _Ha-ha_, never fear, good citizens!  Evil never stood a chance, against the might of … the Silver Shell!"

As the applause continued, few people noticed the frazzled silver-green form inside the tower.  Drew staggered into view, looking haggard and exhausted, with a disgusted look on his face.  He crawled out and wobbled across the parking lot, with the Shell's damaged arm slung over his shoulder – the arm he had been briefly imprisoned inside of.  He stumbled up to the Shell's chest, held the arm out in front of him, and stretched his neck up a few feet to speak to the great hero, face to face …

"I think this belongs to you ... _Sheldon_."

* * *

The silver cruise missile streaked through the sky, puncturing the clouds with swirling spirals in its wake.  The Omni-droid was evaluating its most recent sabotage attempt; if it had been displaying a face, it would have been frowning.  Its sensors detected no trace of radioactive explosion or leakage from the power plant.  It consulted its mission directives, then it grew an antenna, and made a radio call.

"Omni-droid to Commander Smytus.  Commander Smytus, come in.  Mission to destroy nuclear plant has failed.  Plant is damaged, but not destroyed.  Also, secondary target was encountered, element of surprise was lost, and secondary target is also damaged, but not destroyed."

There was a brief pause on the other end before Smytus replied.  "Blast it!  We'll just have to accelerate the schedule, then.  Omni-droid, proceed to Phase Two, effective immediately.  You are ordered to focus on capture of primary target.  There is no higher priority for this operation than to capture XJ-9, and assimilate her into the Cluster."

"Your orders, Commander?"

"We've been monitoring all Earth broadcast frequencies," radioed Smytus.  "XJ-9's creator, the human 'Wakeman', has been released from custody and is being returned to her home dwelling.  I can think of no better way to get close to that foolish teenager than by using her own … 'mother'."

 "Understood," replied the Omni-droid.  The antenna retracted into its body, and it banked its wings sharply, taking a direct heading towards the city of Tremorton.  It had the co-ordinates of XJ-9's home base of operations stored in its memory.  It morphed into a stealth configuration, like a flying arrowhead, and changed its color to blend into the sky.  It was now virtually invisible, and it would arrive at the Wakeman house in just over two minutes.

* * *

There was fresh activity in front of the old Wakeman house; spectators looked on with curiosity, but kept their distance.  Three large black vans from the FBI had just pulled up to the curb, not ten minutes earlier.  By now, everyone in the neighborhood had heard the story about the eccentric old dingbat and her robotic daughter, and how they had been arrested for the wave of mysterious sabotage attacks.  The news was saying that the robot girl was still on the run, evading the authorities.  So it had sounded like their guilt was a foregone conclusion.  But new rumors were buzzing back and forth this afternoon.  The rumor was that old Dr. Wakeman had proof of her innocence, and was now was going to assist the authorities in finding the saboteur, by using some kind of goofball invention.  At least, that was the rumor.

The middle-aged jogger glanced casually over his shoulder at the spectacle, and laughed to himself as he made his daily circuit around the block.  _That old screwball Wakeman … there's always some kind of circus going on at that place._  He didn't give it a second thought, and returned his attention to his jog, trying to keep up a good sweat.  He checked the lap timer on his wristwatch as he turned the corner …

A pair of silver-red tentacles shot out from the hedges and coiled around his chest.  Before he could scream, another tentacle clamped around his mouth.  With a lightning motion, they snatched the jogger off his feet, and he vanished into the bushes.  Then there was an electrical shock.

Moments later, the jogger re-emerged, and slowly walked out onto the sidewalk.  He quickly inspected his jogging outfit, and saw that his shoes were the wrong color.  With a quick wave of rippling silvery fluid, the shoes turned red, matching the jacket.  Then the jogger turned back towards the Wakeman house.

He strolled across the street, scanning the area intensely, and took note of the three black FBI vans parked in front of the house.  He counted a total of six agents in suits and ties, standing idly by the hoods of their vehicles, chatting amongst themselves.  The van closest to him had only one agent, standing behind it, a young blond man in a navy blue suit.  He was assembling a mobile satellite dish.  The jogger calmly walked up to the young FBI agent.

"Excuse me … I live just around the corner," said the jogger, in an emotionless voice.  "Is everything all right with Dr. Wakeman?"

The agent gave him a polite smile.  "Nothing to worry about, sir.  The doctor's fine.  Our men are just escorting her inside, while she …"

He collapsed to the ground, spasming from electrical shocks.  The silver-red tentacle that had sprung out of the jogger's ribs was tipped with a taser gun.  He gathered up the young agent's limp form, lifted him into the back of the van, and quietly closed the doors.  Then, with a moment's concentration, waves of silver-red distortions coursed over the jogger's body, with a soft gurgling noise.  He began to change shape.

Now the jogger was gone.  A young blond FBI agent in a navy blue suit strutted towards the Wakeman house, giving his colleagues an indifferent wave.  Somebody asked him if wanted a coffee, and he declined with a solemn shake of his head.  The blond agent paused briefly in front of the door, and casually looked over the layout of the house with his infrared vision.  There were two agents downstairs with a short woman - that would be the doctor.  One agent was leaving an upstairs bedroom, and was walking down the stairs to join the others.  Soon they would all be together in one room.  A most efficient arrangement.

The blond agent walked through the front door, and came upon a loud scene of shouting and confusion in the doctor's laboratory.  Mrs. Wakeman was energetically arguing with the three FBI agents, who were pawing through stacks of computer paper and going through thick binders of lab notes.  The lead agent, an older, heavy-set man with a gray mustache, was inspecting the drawers in the workbench.

Though the lead FBI agent was a good two feet taller than her, Mrs. Wakeman smacked the back of his hand, as if he were a naughty child reaching into the cookie jar.  "Now see here, gentlemen!" she barked.  "I will not stand to have my important scientific notes rummaged through, like paperback novels at a garage sale!  This is critical scientific research!"

The lead agent rubbed his hand, and glowered back at her.  "Dr. Wakeman, your release is dependent on your complete and total cooperation with our investigation!  Now, what's in this container, here?"

"_Gaaahhh!_" screamed the doctor.  "Those are petri dishes, and they're very sensitive!  They haven't been swabbed since yesterday!  Oh, the poor dears …"

Another tall, barrel-chested agent was taking photographs of objects around the lab.  He grabbed a clear glass from the coffee table, and inspected the residue of fluid that lined the bottom.  "Doctor, what can you tell me about this suspicious mystery chemical?"

Mrs. Wakeman snatched the glass from his hand, sniffed it, and groaned in frustration.  "_Auugghhh!_  If I have told XJ-9 once, I have told her a thousand times … put the glass in the sink, after you finish drinking your anti-freeze!  How difficult is _that_?  Honestly, you'd think she was assembled in a barn."

"Well, what about _this_ boiling solution, in this beaker here?  Over the Bunsen burner?"

The doctor folded her arms and rolled her eyes.  "That's my _tea_."

The lead FBI agent slapped his forehead in aggravation.  "Wakeman, we don't have time for …"  Then he noticed the young blond agent, standing silently in the entranceway to the laboratory.  He folded his arms with a grunt, and his mustache bristled into an intimidating scowl.  "Johnson, what the devil are you doing in here, you idiot?  I told you go out to the van, assemble the field scrambler, and wait for me!"

The blond agent looked over the laboratory with an intense, emotionless gaze.

"You three are the only agents inside the house?"

"Do you _see_ anyone else, Johnson?" snarled the lead agent, waving his arms in a theatrical fashion.  "Now get your sorry butt back out …"

The young agent interrupted him.  "And you are Doctor Nora Wakeman, creator of the XJ-9 robot?"

"Well, of course I am," huffed the doctor.  "Who do I look like, Marie Curie?  Honestly, what kind of people do you have employed in your little G-man club?"

The lead agent slammed a stack of papers on the bench, and marched towards the young blond man with fire in his eyes.  "Johnson, if that satellite dish isn't working in ten seconds, you can kiss …"

Three thin, silver-red tentacles flashed out from behind the blond agent's back, snapping through the air like whips, each tipped with a crackling taser probe.  Each one struck the chest of an FBI agent, and a split second later, tens of thousands of volts raced through their bodies, overloading their central nervous systems.  Before any of them could utter a word, or make a move to defend themselves, the three physically intimidating agents dropped to the floor, like sacks of wet flour.

Mrs. Wakeman's jaw dropped in consternation, and the color drained from her face.  "Oh my … er … I don't suppose I could …  interest you in a spot of tea?"

The tentacles retracted into the agent's body, which started to pulse with rippling waves of silvery, coppery distortion.  The blond FBI agent shuddered like a living block of gelatin.  Then he changed form and color, sloughing into a pillar of silvery sludge.  The doctor stumbled backwards in fear, towards the back of her laboratory, cut off from escape by the amorphous blob.  Then the blob grew solid again, and the Omni-droid assumed its default, insectoid form.  Its curved, beak-like head flowed out of its neck, and glared at the old woman with faintly glowing red eyes.

It raised an arm towards the doctor, and its wrist began to bubble and gurgle with nanobot activity.  Two thin tendrils blossomed out of its wrist, and wriggled in the air like two silver earthworms.  In desperation, Mrs. Wakeman looked around for anything that might serve as a weapon.  She grabbed a desk lamp, and wielded it over her head like a club …

But the Omni-droid's interface cables had already leapt through the air.  A pair of silver-red connectors latched onto the doctor's temples, her arms fell limp at her sides, and her face blanked out into a zombie stare.  Mild seizures shuddered through her body, as the Omni-droid ran a new, special program to create an interface to a human brain.

It executed one command … _Download_.

* * *

Continued in Chapter Seven  /  Eight Days to Cluster Dawn

* * *


	7. Setting the Trap

* * *

Betrayal From Within

A "My Life as a Teenage Robot" Fanfic

Chapter Seven – Setting the Trap

* * *

Catastrophe had been narrowly avoided, but there was still plenty of damage done to Spruce Ridge Reactor One.  Two large holes marred the smooth surface of the concrete cooling tower, and clouds of radioactive steam were threatening to drift into the atmosphere.  The workers had emergency equipment and patching materials for situations just like this, but it would be a few minutes until they could begin repairs.  The most important thing was to plug the holes as quickly as possible, and they needed all the help they could get.

Drew had grown his arms and hands into a large bulldozer blade, and grunted with effort to push the broken concrete and asphalt into a makeshift pile, sealing up the lower hole.  It took a few trips to complete the job – he was nowhere near as strong as Jenny, after all – and an extra pair of hands would have made things go a lot faster.  That's what Drew thought, anyway, as he looked over his shoulder at the Silver Shell, growling and mumbling under his breath.

"Hey, Shell!" he shouted, as he dumped his last load of rubble.  "I hate to interrupt your little _photo session_, but do you think you might give me a hand over here?!?"

The Silver Shell was smiling and waving to a small group of plant employees, who were lining up to snap photographs and shake his hand.  But the mechanical hero bristled at Drew's sarcasm, and shouted back at him with an edge in his voice.  "I'm kind of _busy_ over here, okay?  Besides, you seem to be doing just fine with all that heavy lifting and stuff.  Keep up the good work … _trusty sidekick_."

Drew's jaw hit the ground.  "_Wha?_  Oh, no you didn't!  _Sidekick!?!_"  He reverted back to default form, and marched towards the giant robot with murder in his eyes.  The Shell saw him approaching, excused himself from his admirers, and stormed off to meet him half-way, in the middle of the parking lot.

Drew pointed a silver-green finger into the Shell's face.  "Why I oughta _sidekick_ you right in the … look, get that chrome-plated butt over there and help me out!"

"Why should I?  It's _your_ mess!" sneered the Shell, in a hushed voice.  "Besides, the right arm has severe structural and hydraulic damage, the power couplers are shot, and it's going to take me forever to clean up the mess in here, all thanks to you!"

"_Arrrghhh!_  That's _it_!"  Drew's scowling face gurgled and shimmered, and turned into a thin pillar of gooey paste.  Then it lunged towards the Silver Shell's face, flowed into his mouth, down his neck, and stretched into the cavernous interior of the robot's chest … where an angry Sheldon Lee sat at a fantastically complex control panel, surrounded by banks of television screens and computer monitors.  His face was covered in streaks of dark oil, and he was struggling with a huge socket wrench, trying to make repairs to his robotic exo-skeleton.  Sheldon Lee, high school nerd and robotics genius, who nobody in their right mind would have ever suspected of being a superhero.  At least, not until today.

The worm of silver paste expanded into a blob, and turned back into Drew's head.  "Sheldon, what the _heck_ is your problem?  You have been _on my case_ ever since you got here!"  He ground his teeth together, and grew even more irate.  "And … and just what are you even _doing_ here, anyway?!?  What's the deal with riding around in this giant _motorized bucket?!?_"

"Hey, I came here because I thought my precious Jenny was in trouble," said Sheldon, in his familiar, nasally tone.  "I figured she could use help from somebody who _really_ cares about her!"

"Yes, and you did such a _fantastic_ job of it, too," hissed Drew, in a loud whisper.  "Thanks again for blowing my head off.  It's a lucky thing you didn't get us all killed!"

"Well, I'm so sorry for slowing you down.  Hey, tell me again how you defeated the villain and single-handedly saved the day."  Sheldon's eyes narrowed to a nasty squint.  "Oh, that's right … you _didn't!_"

"Well, how was I supposed to know how to fight an evil Cluster shape-shifter …"

"I guess you haven't been paying attention during your little 'training sessions', then," mocked Sheldon, making sarcastic 'quote marks' with his fingers.

"What the heck is _that_ supposed to mean?" snarled Drew.

"Don't play dumb with me!"  Sheldon waved a screwdriver at Drew's face, with the smug grin of someone who knew what the _real_ story was.  "I remember back when you first had your little 'accident'.  All of the sudden there's a flashy new robot in school.  Oh, you _said_ that you and Jenny were just friends.  Well, now you're spending more and more time with her.  And you're always over at her house for these _private_ training sessions.  _I_ see what's going on, buster!"

Drew was stunned into silence by the sheer absurdity of the conversation.  "Let me get this straight.  You think that I'm going over to Jenny's house after school – to get myself zapped, stretched, pummeled, pounded, sliced, folded, probed, strained, squashed, and blown up – and it's all part of some ingenious plan to _make a move_ on her?"

Sheldon expected Drew to shrivel up and apologize now that his disingenuous scheming had been exposed.  But instead, his silver-green face boiled with fresh anger.

"You pimple-brained twit!  Yes, that's it _exactly_!  I want to date Jenny, but instead of just … oh, I don't know, _asking her out after class_ … I figure she'll be more impressed if I let her watch me splatter myself into a cloud of pudding droplets a couple of times a day!"  He struggled to control his temper.  "Sheldon … I've got my own reasons for doing this, but they don't include hitting on Jenny.  This 'global defense' stuff is hard, and it's serious, and it's dangerous.  Only a crazed idiot would go around risking his life, playing at being a robot hero, just to impress a girl …"

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Drew realized the truth about the Silver Shell.  The pained expression on Sheldon's face merely confirmed things for him.  "Oh, crap … that's _exactly_ what you're doing, isn't it?  You built this robot suit because you wanted to _impress Jenny!_"

Sheldon sunk back into his chair with a mournful sigh, as he recalled the painful memories.  "That wasn't the original idea," he moped.  "I still remember that terrible day, when Jenny told me that she should be dating someone more like herself – a nice 'robot boy'.  I built the Silver Shell to show her that she didn't need a robot boy to love her, when she had _me_ right in front of her!  But things … didn't quite work out like I'd hoped.  Anyway, I still use the Silver Shell to protect Jenny, whenever I can.  If that's what it takes for me to be close to my _true love_, then … so be it!"

"Oh, give me a break," groaned Drew.  "That's got to be the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life."

"It's not _stupid_!" protested Sheldon, clutching his hands to his heart in a grand, melodramatic gesture.  "True love can drive a man to do unbelievable things!  He would swim the widest river, climb the tallest mountain, and build the biggest robot, if that's what it took to win the heart of his beloved!  If you don't understand that, then how can you _really_ be in love with Jenny?"

"_Arrghh!!!_  Sheldon, for the last time, _I'm not_ in love with Jenny!"  Drew was losing what remained of his patience.  "Just look at me!  I'm a gooey sack of silver snot, okay?  I figured out _long ago_ that my romantic prospects were pretty much in the toilet.  The girls do _not go wild_ over a shiny blob of pizza dough, okay?  So you can just relax … you don't have _anything_ to worry about from me!"

The tension was dripping down the walls inside the cavernous chest of the mighty robot.  Sheldon folded his arms with a huff.  "I suppose you're going to blab to everyone at school now, that the Silver Shell is really just geeky old Sheldon Lee."

Drew rolled his eyes.  "Sheldon, I couldn't care less about what you do in your spare time.  If you want to run around in this big tin jumpsuit, hey, I ain't yer pappy.  I won't tell anyone, I _promise_."

That seemed to calm things down a bit, and Drew heaved with a deep, tired sigh.  This conflict wasn't going to be resolved anytime soon, and there were bigger things to worry about right now.  "Look, there's one thing we agree on.  Jenny is our friend, and we're both really worried about her.  The robot saboteur that attacked us was from the Cluster, and I'll bet you a million bucks that it's going after her.  It's going to try and assimilate her, just like it tried to assimilate the 'Silver Shell'."

Sheldon nodded his head.  "Then we've gotta follow it back towards the city!  But … the Shell is pretty banged up.  The rocket motors work, but the struts they're connected to are damaged.  I don't think I can make it all the way back to Tremorton."

"I'm not going anywhere either," groaned Drew.  "Doc Wakeman's jetpack got flattened like a pancake when that Cluster robot beat the stuffing out of me."

Both of the second-string heroes sighed with frustration, trying to figure out how they were going to get back to the city.  Drew could morph his body into any structural shape, but he couldn't make a rocket engine to propel himself.  The Silver Shell had powerful rocket motors, but his structure was damaged and in need of repairs.  A ridiculous thought formed in Drew's mind; a quick and dirty solution that he wasn't thrilled with.  But it _would_ get both of them back to Tremorton in minutes, instead of hours.

"Okay, Sheldon, if you're willing to declare a truce … I think we can help each other out."

* * *

She would have been embarrassed by her rude behavior under different circumstances, but Jenny was feeling too thirsty, and her motors and gears were in serious need of fresh lubricant.  Besides, she doubted that Tuck worried much about table manners in his tree house.  She chugged the last bottle of motor oil in one long drink, then quickly slapped her hand to her mouth, as an air bubble worked its way out of her oil pan.  "Excuse me!" she blushed.  "That really hit the spot, Tuck.  Thanks!"

"No problem, Jenny!  And may I say, not a bad burp … for a _girl_.  Although for maximum effect, you really should project from your diaphragm.  Observe!"  The little fellow pounded back his can of lime soda, and proudly unleashed a wall-rattling belch.

"Eww, _disgusting!_" she laughed.

"Thank you!" he chuckled, giving her a sweeping bow.  "Besides, it's the least I could do to make you feel at home, during your stay here in stately Tuck Manor.  Are you sure you have all the oil you need?"

"Let me check, really quick."  Jenny opened her mouth, reached down her throat, and pulled out a long, metal dipstick.  "The little line is right on 'Full', just where it's supposed to be!"

"So you're back to full power, then?"  He playfully swung his fists through the air.

"It isn't quite that simple, Tuck," she sighed.  "Even with Brad's little masking tape repair, my left arm still feels kind of weird.  I'm not sure if my self-repair circuits are working properly.  I never thought I'd hear myself say this, but I really wish my mom was here right now.  Not only could she fix me up … but with everyone in the world out to get me, it would be nice to have somebody around that I can trust."

"Hey!" protested Tuck, feeling very offended.  "What am I, chopped liver?"

Jenny smiled apologetically, and wrapped her arms around him in a crushing hug.  "Oh, Tuck, I didn't mean anything by that!  I know that I'll always be able to trust my real friends, like you.  It's just that … well, after I've saved the Earth so many times, and saved the lives of so many people … I thought that everyone was finally starting to _trust_ me."  Her pigtails drooped slightly, she set Tuck down, and sank back against the wall.  "You'd think that after a few hundred meteors, dam breaks, and alien invasions, people would get a clue, and realize that I'm one of the good guys!  After the ceremony on Monday, it seemed like the town was finally starting to accept me.  But just like _that_ …" – she snapped her fingers – "… they thought that I had betrayed them.  I guess I found out what everyone _really_ thinks of me."

Tuck tried to think of something comforting to say.  "They don't think that you betrayed them, Jenny.  They just think you blew a gasket and went on an uncontrollable rampage of destruction!"

Jenny folded her arms, and gave him a nasty stare.  He tugged awkwardly at the collar of his shirt, and gulped.  "That doesn't help, does it?"

Fortunately, Tuck's attempt at cheering up was interrupted by a shrill buzzing noise.  Although it was a very familiar sound, it caught Jenny completely by surprise, and it took her a second to believe her auditory inputs.  Her belly-bolt was flashing.  But that must mean …

Jenny's chest split open, and a long pole projected outwards to unfold into the chest monitor.  It blinked to life, and sure enough, there was her mother, staring back at her!

"Greetings, XJ-9," she said, in a calm, nonplussed voice.

Jenny's face broke into a huge grin.  "Mom!  I can't believe it!  It's really you!"  She grabbed her monitor, and drew it closer to her face.  "What a relief!  Are you all right?  Did they really take you to jail?"

"Calm down, XJ-9," answered the doctor, without a trace of emotion in her face.  "I am back at the house, in my laboratory.  I am attempting to retrieve computer records, and assemble a pattern of evidence that will reassure the government that you cannot possibly be the saboteur."

Jenny planted her fists on her hips with a frustrated clank, and smiled sarcastically at the monitor.  "Why, yes, Mom, I'm just _fine_ … thank you for asking!  I've been evading every air force and army in the world for the past twenty-four hours, and my arm's hanging together with masking tape and pipe cleaners, but other than that, I'm feeling _super_!"

"I don't understand," her mother said, with a look of mild confusion on her face.  "Obviously you are feeling fine, or else you would have not been able to answer your monitor.  Plus, your remote telemetry link indicated that the arm malfunction is a minor one, and all of your remaining systems are operating nominally, within acceptable parameters."

"What-_ever_," huffed Jenny.  "You get so excited over stupid little stuff, but then a real crisis comes along, and you're talking about 'acceptable parameters'.  Are you sure you're feeling all right?  You sound like you could use a cup of coffee, or something."

"That is not important," droned Mrs. Wakeman, in a hypnotic monotone voice.  "I must retrieve the optical drive from your on-board 'black box' recorder.  With it, I can prove your innocence."

Jenny squealed with joy.  "That's awesome, Mom!  I can be back at the house in sixty seconds …"

But to her surprise, her mother shook her head.  "Negative, XJ-9.  There are many law enforcement officials here, and you would be in jeopardy if you returned to the house.  I want you to …"

"Wait, I don't get it.  If they trust you enough to go back to the house, why won't they trust me?"

"That is not important.  Now, I will meet you at the following location in fifteen minutes …"

"What do you mean, not important?" shouted Jenny.  "It's _not important_ that nobody trusts me?"

Mrs. Wakeman started to reply, but then stopped suddenly in mid-sentence, and a shiver seemed to run through her body.  Her expressionless face twitched slightly … and then grew very annoyed, with her thin lips bent into a frown.   She shook her finger into the screen in a scolding gesture.  "XJ-9, we do not have time for another one of your angst-riddled adolescent outbursts!  I told you that it wasn't safe to come back to the house right now, and that should be _good enough_ for you!  Now, be a good robot, and obey your mother!  I am transmitting a set of co-ordinates to your monitor screen.  I will meet you there in precisely fifteen minutes."  She folded her arms across her yellow lab coat, and her eyes narrowed into a authoritarian stare.  "Not twenty, not sixteen … _fifteen_ minutes.  _Do_ try to be on time for once!"

The monitor screen blinked off, and Jenny balled her hands in frustration as the device retracted back into her chest.  "_Aauuuugghh_, Mom just makes me so mad sometimes!  Tuck, did I do anything wrong there?  Wasn't I asking perfectly reasonable questions?"

Tuck had listened to the entire exchange, and was scratching his chin, feeling a bit puzzled himself.  "Yeah, Jenny … I think you're right, but it was like your mom didn't want to talk about anything.  And she sounded a little weird, if you ask me.  Uh … until the end, when you two were going at it like cats and dogs.  That part sounded perfectly normal!"

"_Ha, ha_," she smirked back at him.  "I guess she's just feeling stressed about everything that's happened over the past couple of days.  Well, it sounds like things should be back to normal pretty soon.  Or whatever passes for normal in my freaky life."

With a _whirr_ of motors and pumps, she rose to her feet and walked over to the hole in the floor.  Jenny thanked Tuck one more time, ignited her pigtail-jets, and shot out of the tree house like a missile.  It felt good to get back in the air again, even if she did have to take care to remain unseen.  She checked her internal clock – there was plenty of time to get to the rendezvous point.  That would give her a chance to dwell on her mother's weird attitude during the monitor call.  _Well,_ she thought, _even for all of Mom's weirdness, it'll be still be nice to see her again.  At least she's somebody else I can trust._

* * *

The monitor in the laboratory winked off, and all was quiet once more, except for the doctor's agitated breathing, as she tried to calm herself down from the heated exchange.  That in itself would not be unusual, except for the fact that the figure in front of the monitor _wasn't actually_ Mrs. Wakeman.  The Omni-droid had molded its nanobot body, changing to assume the doctor's appearance, and perfectly replicating her voice.  It had downloaded the knowledge from the doctor's brain – that was how it knew to use the monitor to contact XJ-9, and how it knew about XJ-9's remote telemetry link, and the existence of her "black box".  The Omni-droid now had a perfect copy of the information from Mrs. Wakeman's mind.

But it had apparently gotten a little extra something.  It staggered a few steps backward, and clutched a hand to its forehead, as if experiencing a headache – something quite impossible for a robot.  It also felt a strange sensation buzzing through its internal network … a sense of _aggravation_ towards XJ-9.

"Why does that girl have to be so _infuriatingly stubborn_?" the Omni-droid groaned out loud.  Still in Mrs. Wakeman's form, it clutched its long, white hair in its fists – a very _illogical_ behavior, it realized.

It was only interested in using the doctor's knowledge and appearance to trick XJ-9.  The plan had been to first turn the authorities against her – that part of the plan had worked to perfection.  Now that XJ-9 was the most hunted robot on the planet, the second part of the plan was to imitate her creator … her "mother" … when the robot girl was feeling alone and vulnerable.  Logic dictated that XJ-9 would feel her closest bonds of friendship and trust with her "mother".  They would meet in a remote place, just the two of them, where there would be no interference and no witnesses.  And then the Omni-droid would strike, and before XJ-9 knew what had happened to her, she would be pledging allegiance to the Cluster.

But the Omni-droid had been confused by XJ-9's reaction to her "mother" on the monitor link.  She _seemed_ to trust her, but she had also been insubordinate and argumentative.  The Omni-droid was having difficulty deciphering what that meant …

There was a soft _creak_ from the back of the house, and the sound of a door closing.  The Cluster robot snapped back to full attention.  There were only four humans in the house: three FBI agents, and Dr. Wakeman.  All of them were lying on the floor of the laboratory, in varying states of unconsciousness.  The Omni-droid knew that there were more agents outside the house.  Now somebody was sneaking in through the back.  Waves of energy coursed through its body.  It retained the doctor's appearance for camouflage purposes.  But its nanobots were primed and ready to strike.

The Omni-droid slowly made its way back towards the kitchen, where the mystery sounds were coming from.  Its eyes warbled slightly, and it switched to infrared mode – confirming that there was definitely a single human entering the house through the back door.  Waves of silver-red began to ripple through its back, and it squeezed off a short tentacle that could grow into a taser whip at a moment's notice.  It peered its head around the kitchen door …

And saw a young man, an adolescent male, rummaging through a small utility closet.  He was about five foot nine, with a slim frame, and had spiky red hair.  Apparently he was familiar with the layout of the house.  He was searching for something, trying to be quiet, although he was clumsily dropping spare parts and equipment on the floor.  Perhaps there was some record of him in Dr. Wakeman's memories …

"Excuse me?" asked "Dr. Wakeman".  "Can I help you?"

"_Yikes!_" shouted Brad, nearly jumping out of his shoes.  He knocked over a delicate pile of vacuum tubes on the top shelf of the coat closet, which rained down around him, shattering on the floor.  He grinned at the Omni-droid, as he shielded his head with his arms.  "Mrs. Wakeman, is that you?  Wow, you nearly scared me half to death!  I didn't know you were back home already!  Awesome!  So, eh … how's it hangin'?  Umm … _heh-heh_ … sorry about your light bulbs."

_Confirm identification … Bradley Carbunkle, neighbor, attends high school with XJ-9._  "Bradley, what are  you doing here?  Why are you sneaking into the house?"

Brad flinched, as the last of the vacuum tubes bounced off of his head.  "Oh … uh … I just needed to borrow something from your lab, ma'am.  It's real important.  I was going to bring it back, honest!"

"What is so important, that you could not wait to simply ask for it?" queried the Omni-droid.

Brad looked both ways, making sure that nobody else was within earshot.  "It's not for me, Mrs. W!  I was looking for some kind of portable repair kit, for Jenny!  Heh, listen to me … I guess I don't need a repair kit now!  Now that you're out of the big house, you can just fix up Jenny yourself."

The Omni-droid relaxed a bit, calculating that it was highly unlikely this "Brad" human posed any kind of a threat.  Then something occurred to it.  "Bradley, did you say 'a repair kit for XJ-9'?  Do you actually know where she is?"

"Know where she is?  I was just with her," grinned Brad.  "And you can relax, Mrs. W.  Jenny's feeling fine!  She just needed a place to sleep, and a little time to run her self-repair thingamajigs.  She had a few injuries, but nothing too serious.  Come on, I'll take you back to her!"

Suddenly this "Brad" human became very interesting to the Omni-droid.

"XJ-9 went to _you_ … for help, and comfort, in her time of need?"

"Well … yeah, I guess you could say that.  Sure."  Brad arched a quizzical eyebrow; something about Mrs. Wakeman seemed a little … _off_.

"And she allowed you to perform repairs on her … she trusts you very much?"

"Um … yeah … yeah, she does."  _Okay, this is getting weird_.

Mrs. Wakeman took a few steps towards the red-haired teenager. 

"XJ-9 considers you to be a … _friend_, then," she said, in an eerie, monotone voice.  "A _close_ friend."

"Well, Mrs. W, I mean …" Brad squirmed a little, and tugged at the collar of his shirt.  The question made him feel a little uncomfortable.  Mrs. Wakeman was Jenny's mother, after all.  "… Jenny and I aren't just close friends.  We're _best_ friends."

Mrs. Wakeman grinned up at Brad, analyzing him through her thick eyeglasses.  She was standing directly in front of him now.

"That will do nicely."

Brad was just about to make a comment about the doctor's creepy behavior, but the words stuck in his mouth as she raised her left arm.  It warbled with rippling patterns of silvery-red, shuddering as if it were made of gelatin, and began to change shape.  Two long, thin tendrils flowed out of her wrist, and waved back in forth in the air like a pair of silver cobras …

He felt a pair of objects strike him in the temples, and an electric shock ran through his head.  For a split second, it felt like his brain was exploding with sound and images, like a million television channels running at the same time.  The last thing he saw was an evil grin on Mrs. Wakeman's face …

Then everything was darkness.

* * *

Continued in Chapter Eight  /  Eight Days to Cluster Dawn

* * *


	8. The Trap Is Sprung

A/N – Just in case you were wondering, I did _not_ make up the name "Carbunkle".  According to the official Teenage Robot blog, and the show's writers, that's Brad and Tuck's last name.

* * *

Betrayal From Within

A "My Life as a Teenage Robot" Fanfic

Chapter Eight – The Trap is Sprung

* * *

Tuck stomped through the knee-high grass, sulking to himself as he made his way back home from the woods.  Once Jenny had left him all alone in the tree house, he'd grown bored of waiting for his big brother to get back from Mrs. Wakeman's place.  "Brad said he was coming right back with some kind of repair kit gizmo," he moped, shoving his hands into his pockets.  "The big dummy's probably home in the living room, playing video games.  _Ehh_, who needs him."  If he didn't want to spend any time with his little brother today, well, that was just fine with him.

As he cut across the neighbor's yard behind his house, Tuck noticed that the big black FBI vans were still parked out in front of Mrs. Wakeman's place.  Bright, flashing lights in front of Jenny's house were a common enough sight that Tuck barely made a note of it.  _But_ … maybe they explained why Brad hadn't come back to the tree house.  He'd probably gotten caught sneaking around!  _Ha, ha, Brad's in trouble with the FBI!  Dad is SO gonna kill him!  I've gotta see this!_  Laughing mischievously, he vaulted himself over the fence, and into the Wakeman's back yard.

The back door of the house was slightly ajar; Tuck snuck up to it, trying to hear what the FBI men were talking about.  But there was no sound of activity, or conversation, coming from inside the door.  In fact, the entire Wakeman property seemed to be unnaturally silent.  It was like everybody had suddenly vanished.  Tuck swallowed hard, and his knees started to shake a little bit.  He took a few deep breaths, reached up to turn the knob, and swung open the back door with a long, drawn-out _creeeeeeak_.  Then he tiptoed in towards the kitchen.

The inside of the house, if anything, was even more quiet than the outside.  Tuck took a few steps, looking around cautiously … then he was startled by a sharp crunching sound.  He nearly jumped out of his shoes … until he realized that it was just a bunch of broken light bulbs on the floor.  _Whew.  Heh-heh.  Light bulbs!_  Tuck chortled to himself, as he walked into the kitchen …

And tripped over a huge obstacle lying across the floor.  He grumbled with irritation, got back to his feet, dusted off his shirt … and looked up to see Brad's dazed face, staring off into the distance like a zombie, with a trail of drool rolling down his chin.

"YYYYEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGGGGHHHH!!!"

* * *

Jenny peeked out from behind the empty shipping containers, being mindful to stay out of sight.  The sound of a Skyway Patrol helicopter roaring overhead made her duck back into the shadows.  It was very frustrating for her to hide – she preferred the head-on approach to handling problems – but it was even more frustrating to get shot at when you couldn't shoot back.  She gave the clock on her wrist panel a quick check.  The fifteen minutes were up, and she hadn't seen any cars drive through the chain-link fence.  _After that big speech Mom gave me about me not being late … she'd better show up pretty soon!_

The co-ordinates on Jenny's chest monitor had led her to a run-down scrap yard, in an old industrial park on the outskirts of Tremorton.  She never came to this part of town, and it was plain to see why.  There was nothing here but factories, warehouses, junkyards, manufacturing and chemical plants … and half of them were abandoned and falling apart.  The scrap yard hadn't seen any use in over a year.  Piles of rusting iron beams and crushed automobiles sat idly in neat rows along the yard's tall fence, forming mountains of decaying metal.  Jenny wasn't thrilled with her mother's choice of location.  To a robot, a scrap yard had the unnerving feel of … a cemetery.

_Oh, that's just silly_, Jenny thought … _almost_ convincing herself.  A light breeze blew through the mounds of rusting junk, generating faint howls and whistles that filled the air with an eerie moan.  Among the stacks of engine blocks and steel pipes, she thought she saw a few old obsolete robots … their once-shiny bodies rotting away into ghostly husks ... _okay, get it together, girl.  Don't let your imagination run away with you.  This isn't one of those teen slasher movies._  She clasped her hands behind her back, and rocked back and forth on her heels, softly humming a pleasant tune …

"Over here!" a voice shouted behind her.

"_Eeeyikes!_" she yelped, knocking over a stack of empty oil drums.  _Who on Earth was that?  I know I'm the only person here – I scanned the whole scrap yard before I landed!  I still don't see any cars …_  Suddenly, she spotted movement between two rusting piles of steel piping.  A lone figure walked out into the open, twenty yards away, waving to get her attention.  Jenny sighed with relief, feeling silly for her skittishness, and her face broke into a wide smile.

"Brad!" she shouted back to him.  "_Phew!_  You gave me a little bit of a scare, there."

* * *

"Brad!  Brad!!  BRAD!!!"  Tuck shook his brother's head back and forth, trying to rouse him from his state of semi-consciousness.  All he got for his efforts was a spray of saliva.  He vigorously slapped Brad's cheeks with both hands, and was only answered with a soft, guttural groan.  In desperation, he slid a chair up to the kitchen sink, climbed up to the counter, and turned on the cold water faucet.  There weren't any glasses in the sink, but there was a spray hose …

Tuck grabbed the hose and jumped back to the floor, took aim … and blasted cold water into his big brother's face.  Brad instantly snapped upright, frantically waving his arms to shield himself from his soaking.  "_Phppppt!!_  Tuck, I'm awake!  I'm awake!  What are you trying to do, drown me?"

"Ah … heh-heh … better safe than sorry," he chuckled, as his brother smoothed back his soggy hair.  Then he grew serious again.  "Brad, what's going on?  What were you doing on the floor?"

Brad slowly got to his feet, feeling a bit wobbly, and leaned against the countertop.  "I'm not sure … the last thing I remember is being … _attacked_ … by …"

Suddenly their attention was drawn to another groaning sound, coming from the hallway … where a disheveled, white-haired woman in a yellow lab coat was leaning against the door.

Brad's eyes sprung wide open.  "_Mrs. Wakeman!_  Mrs. Wakeman attacked me!"

"GAAAHHHH!!!"  Tuck mashed down the handle of the spray hose, and a blast of icy water shot across the kitchen, nearly knocking the doctor off of her feet.

The water quickly brought her back to her senses.  "_Blaaapt!!_  Stop!  _Stop!!!_  Heavens to Archimedes, turn off the water!  I am _not_ a rhododendron, you know!!!"

Brad snatched the hose out of Tuck's hands, halting the liquid assault on the doctor.  The brothers grinned innocently as Mrs. Wakeman wiped off her glasses, her long hair drizzling water into puddles on the linoleum floor.  "What on Earth are _you two_ doing here?!?" she growled.

Brad stammered for a second, then gathered his nerve and grew a bit indignant.  "Well ... what's the big idea zapping me with that electro-weapon gadget that … um … came out of your arm?!?"

Mrs. Wakeman's eyes flickered with fragments of memory.  "I certainly _didn't attack_ you, Bradley.  In fact, it sounds like you encountered the same individual that I did … oh, my."  The images in her mind were beginning to coalesce.  "I remember … something in disguise …"

* * *

Brad flashed a pleasant smile, and waved for Jenny to come out from her hiding spot.  She bounded over to the middle of the scrap yard, comforted to see his friendly face, but also feeling a little confused.  "Hey, this is a surprise.  I thought Mom was coming to meet me.  Where is she, Brad?"

"Dr. Wakeman thought it might be best if I came instead," he explained, in an emotionless voice.  "After all, she would have been followed by the police if she left the house.  That's why I'm here.  This way, we can be sure that we are … _alone_."

"_Okaaaaay_," she giggled, not quite sure what to make of Brad's odd tone.  "Wow, you sure got here in a hurry.  Did your dad let you drive the Turbo Wagon?  I didn't see where you parked."

"That is not important," he said.  "Dr. Wakeman told me to retrieve the optical drive from your black box.  Open up your cranium access panel, please."

Jenny folded her arms across her chest, and gave him a bemused smirk.  "Well, listen to you!  A guy fixes up one pair of wires with a little masking tape, and suddenly he thinks he's a rocket scientist.  Come on, Brad, stop joking around!  You don't know the first thing about all the machinery inside of me, let alone something as sensitive as my black box!"

She may have been giggling, but Brad didn't so much as chuckle.  He merely stared back at her with cold, serious eyes.  "Dr. Wakeman explained the entire drive removal procedure to me.  It won't be difficult.  Open your cranium access panel, please."

Jenny arched a puzzled eyebrow, as she tried to decipher the expression on Brad's face.  It was a little unlike him to be so stand-offish and serious; _especially_ considering how warm he had been, only a half hour earlier, back in Tuck's tree house.  Maybe he was upset that her mother had sent him out here on a boring errand.  _Whatever.  One minute he's Mister Sensitivity, the next minute he's as frigid as the school nurse._  "Okay … but don't monkey around with anything in there that you don't understand!"

"Don't worry," he said, with a faint smile.  'I won't."

* * *

"… A _shape-shifter_!  Yes, I'm certain of it.  An android composed of Cluster nanobots!"  Mrs. Wakeman rubbed her chin.  "It displayed the characteristic fluid structural properties that define …"

Brad flung his hands into the air to interrupt.  "Wait … are you saying that _Drew_ attacked us?"

She shook her head.  "Of course not.  Its coloring and default form were very different.  And it displayed an ability to manufacture energy weaponry, which Andrew has yet to master … by Jove!  Bradley, I believe the most probable explanation … is _another_ Cluster nano-droid.  A newer version, with nanobots that are more technologically advanced than Andrew's."

Brad snapped his fingers with a sudden revelation.  "That would explain why everyone thought they saw Jenny attack those military bases!  Mrs. W, if it can imitate you, then it can imitate _Jenny, _too!  It's all a Cluster trick!  I'm gonna run back to the tree house, and let Jen know what's going on!"

"But she's not there anymore!" said Tuck.  "Mrs. Wakeman gave her a call on her monitor, and said …"

"_Incorrect!"_ proclaimed Mrs. Wakeman.  "I made no such call, Tucker.  I've been … _hmmm_, wait a minute."  She began to piece things together.  "If XJ-9 received a call, and it wasn't from me …"

The doctor suddenly realized that her daughter was in _grave_ danger.

"Merciful heavens!  I must contact XJ-9 immediately, and warn her!"

The three of them rushed into the semi-darkened quarters of Mrs. Wakeman's laboratory.  Naturally, Tuck screamed in terror again upon seeing the stunned FBI agents, who were still lying unconscious on the floor of the lab.  While Brad tried to calm him down, Mrs. Wakeman rushed past both of them, and made a bee-line for her workbench.  Her stubby fingers were dancing madly over the keyboard before she even landed in her chair.  She called up the communications software module, and fired off a high-priority emergency signal to her daughter.

* * *

_Click.  Snap. Whirr._  Jenny unlatched the access panel on the back of her head, and flipped it open to reveal the inner workings of her electronic brain.  She felt a little vulnerable with her head hanging wide open, but nobody besides Brad was going to see her like this.  "Okay, Brad, make it quick.  I must look like a complete _freak_ with my brains sticking out like this!  Do you see that optical drive thingy?"  She turned around, so he could access the back of her head.

"Brad" smiled, and slowly raised his right hand, which began to warble with crisscrossing waves of silver-red.  His index finger stretched out, reaching for the main input jack …

When a shrill buzzing sound echoed through the afternoon air.  Jenny reflexively looked down at her belly-bolt, and sure enough, it was flashing a soft blue.  "Huh?  Uh-oh … my mom's calling!"

But to her surprise, her chest-plate did not split open.  A moment later, the belly-bolt was silent.

"It just stopped?  That's bizarre.  I don't think that's ever happened before!"  She glanced over her shoulder at "Brad", with a perplexed look on her face – and she seemed to startle him, because he quickly whipped his right hand behind his back.  Something _weird_ was going on.  "Mom _never_ calls and hangs up – it's not like her to miss a chance to _lecture_ to me.  I wonder what happened?"

"Brad" clenched and unclenched his fists in frustration.  "I'm sure it was nothing," he grimaced.  "Now, stop moving your head around, and let me _finish_ the job."

"Well, _yes sir_," she said sarcastically.  She was still a little put off by Brad's sudden case of attitude, but she was more concerned about a possible malfunction in her circuits.  She settled down to let Brad access the back of her metallic cranium, and decided to run a quick diagnostic on her communications system.  There weren't any malfunctions, but she did find something unexpected.  "All of my internal systems are normal, but I seem to be detecting a … _jamming signal_ from somewhere."

"Jamming signal, huh?" smirked "Brad".  "Imagine that."

* * *

Mrs. Wakeman ground her molars in frustration, as the message flashed on the screen in front of her:  _Transmission Error – Signal Lost_.  Normally, she would have interpreted that as a typical rebellion by her headstrong daughter.  After all, Jenny had disconnected her belly-bolt in the past, to cut herself off from her mother's pestering.  But telemetry readouts indicated that moodiness wasn't the cause of the present blackout.  No connection was being established, because the signal was being jammed.

"I cannot get a message to XJ-9," she fretted.  "I've tried three times, but there appears to be no way to warn her about the Cluster threat!"

Brad pried his little brother loose from his grip around his shins.  "There's gotta be some way to call her – oh, hold up!  My cell phone!"  He fished it from his pocket, and speed-dialed Jenny's number.

"If the Cluster imposter made a monitor call to XJ-9, then there should be a record of it in the video log …"  Mrs. Wakeman found and replayed the previous call, which had been made fifteen minutes earlier.

"Nuts!" shouted Brad.  "I can't get a connection on my cell, either!"

Mrs. Wakeman frantically scribbled down notes as she watched the replayed call.  Her frown deepened, as she realized how powerless she was to do anything at the moment.  "The imposter arranged to meet XJ-9 at the old abandoned scrap yard on the other side of town.  They are most likely _both_ there, at this very minute!  Bradley, Tucker – come, we haven't a moment to lose!"

She grabbed her car keys, and they all bolted for the front door.  "And Bradley – I need to you to make one more phone call."

* * *

"Brad" scanned the fantastically complex electronics inside the back of Jenny's head, identifying the major circuits and subsystems.  He saw the black box with the optical drive, and ignored it; he was only interested in the input jack that would give him direct access to her innermost mind, her central CPU core.  Once more, his finger shuddered and grew into a long cable, snaking its way inside her body.  He called up the Cluster Assimilation Software from his memory banks, and prepared to transmit it to …

Jenny snapped her head around again, once again disrupting "Brad's" efforts to complete his mission.  "I don't know, Brad.  Maybe I should find a phone somewhere, and give my mother a quick call.  It might have been something important."

"We can do that _after_ I'm finished here," he said, struggling to keep his temper in check.  "Now knock it off and _stand still_ for a second!"  He grabbed her head from behind, trying to hold it steady …

"It'll only take a second to call her," she said, surprised by Brad's sudden forcefulness.  An uneasy feeling was welling up from deep inside of her, and she realized that the cause of it was … _Brad_.  The touch of his hand had always been a pleasant thing before; her sensors might not register any feelings, but they _could_ detect warmth.  But there was no warmth in Brad's touch right now.  In fact, his hand almost felt … _metallic_.  "Brad, what's your _deal_ today?  Is something wrong?"

"There's nothing wrong, XJ-9.  Now if you'd just quit fooling around …"

Jenny spun around, and took a couple of steps away from "Brad", with a stunned expression on her face.  "What did you just call me?"

Traces of anger and nervousness began to crack his emotionless front.  "Nothing.  I didn't say …"

"You've _never_ called me XJ-9, _never_ as long as we've ever known each other!  What's the …" – then her voice trailed off, and her eyes locked onto "Brad's" right hand.  His long, silvery index finger was still waving slowly back and forth in the air, like a frustrated serpent that had just been denied its dinner.  Jenny gasped in shock, and recoiled with a look of disgust on her face ... which gradually turned into a angry scowl.  She sealed up the panel on the back of her head, and assumed an aggressive posture.  "Alright, 'Brad' … or _whatever_ you are … just what are you trying to pull, here?"

His shoulders slumped in resignation, aggravated at the small mistake he'd made.  "Very well," he said, in a synthesized voice which bore no resemblance to Brad's.  "I attempted to do this in the most painless manner possible.  Now it appears we'll have to do this the _hard way_."

Brad's slim frame and red hair began to gurgle and bubble, like the surface of a boiling liquid.  Jenny was momentarily shocked as her best friend pulsed with waves of distortion, and turned into a shimmering column of shiny, silvery goo.  She recognized the material instantly – _those are nanobots!_ – and the first question she managed to form in her processors was, _Why in the world would Drew pull a stunt like this?_  But just as quickly, she realized a more terrible truth.  These nanobots were slightly different.  The liquidy material had a reddish tinge to it, not a green one.  And the column was morphing into a very different android – a tall, thin insectoid creature with a cruel, beak-like face.

"Default form reset," the hideous android announced.  "Greetings, XJ-9.  You may call me … Omni-droid.  And I am here to bid you welcome and usher you into your new family … _the Cluster_."

Her fists shook with righteous anger.  "You're made up of Cluster nanobots, just like Drew!  That's what all this shape-shifting is about … hey … _hold on_!  Another Cluster nano-droid?!?"  Suddenly, the past twenty-four hours of her life started to make sense, and her fury boiled over.  "It was YOU!  You've been impersonating me, flying around all over the world, and destroying stuff!  And you let _me_ take the blame for it!  All those tanks and planes have been trying to _blow me up_ since yesterday, all because of YOU?!?  Why you …"

With a series of lightning-fast transformations, Jenny deployed one of her giant mallets from her right hand.  She leapt high into the air, drew her weapon high over her head, and came screaming down towards the Omni-droid … who strangely enough, didn't move an inch, didn't budge a claw, didn't twitch so much as an antenna.  She swung with all her might, and splattered the Cluster nano-droid into a shower of thick, silvery paste.  The mallet blasted a two-foot deep crater into the ground, and flung a curtain of shiny goo outwards like a blast wave.

"That's for totally messing up my _life_, you big Cluster jerk," she shouted.

But no sooner were the words out of her mouth, than the wall of silvery molasses reversed direction, curled inwards on itself, and concentrated back into a solid insectoid form.  In seconds, the Omni-droid stood once more only a few yards away, showing no evidence that Jenny had ever laid a finger on it.

"XJ-9, this is a pointless expenditure of energy and time," sighed the Omni-droid, more as a statement of fact than a swaggering boast.  "My mission is to assimilate you into the Cluster family, and I will succeed in that mission.  My subterfuge was conducted to draw you out here alone, because I calculated that you would irrationally resist the gift of Cluster membership.  I see that I was correct.  Foolish XJ-9!  The Cluster knows what is best for you!"

"Can't you Cluster doofuses take hint!?!  I am _never_ – going to _join_ – the _Cluster_!!!"  _The nerve of those patronizing Cluster morons, thinking they know what's best for me!_  She picked up an engine block that weighed several hundred pounds, and hurled it towards the Omni-droid with the ease of a baseball.  It struck him right in the middle of the chest …

… And stuck there, as if mired in a pool of tar.  The Omni-droid gave the engine block a casual glance, and thin tendrils of silvery-red goo slithered out of its chest, engulfing the huge chunk of metal.  The engine block began to shimmer with a shiny, coppery luster.  Within seconds, it had been completely consumed and absorbed into the Omni-droid's body.  "Very well then, XJ-9.  For what it's worth, I am truly saddened that you have foolishly chosen to resist me.  I will attempt keep your damage to a minimum!"

"You'd better worry about your _own_ damage, mister," she taunted, as she ignited her pigtail-jets and hovered sixty feet into the air, giving herself time to think.  Jenny tried to calm herself down, and reason things out.  _Okay, this guy has the same nanobot powers that Drew does.  So I need to fight him the same way I fight Drew in practice, only this time, I set the guns on maximum._  She wasn't going to get anywhere trying to brawl or wrestle with him, because he could simply flow out of her grasp … but he couldn't flow away if he was frozen solid.  With a confident smile on her face, she cracked open her right elbow, and deployed the long, narrow barrel of her paralyzer ray.

But before she could take aim, to her amazement, she was tackled out of mid-air … by the Omni-droid!  It had grown a pair of sleek, silver fairings out of the middle of its back, each of which housed a newly formed rocket engine.  The fairings pivoted, aiming their thrust downward, and drove the two robots back to earth with a thunderous crash.  They slammed into a tall pile of flattened automobiles, and tumbled amidst the wreckage as it scattered across the scrap yard's sorting area.  Jenny and the Omni-droid scrambled back to their feet, to face off once more.

Jenny was more than a little surprised.  "How … how did you do that?!?"

The Omni-droid glared back at her with a cool, calm expression.  "I am far more advanced than that obsolete abomination that you associate with … and far more powerful.  Observe."

He grew a set of tentacles out of his body, sprouted a set of large clamps, and grabbed onto one of the old crushed automobiles lying on the ground.  With a smooth, fluid motion, he lifted it over his head, and jumped across the scrap yard, hurtling directly at Jenny.  Her paralyzer ray was still deployed; she swung it in front of her, and fired off a brilliant green burst of energy.  But it was blocked by the body of the crushed car … and a split-second later, the huge slab of flattened metal was on top of her, knocking her backwards with tremendous force.  The Omni-droid drove her into the ground, and used the wieght of the crushed auto to pin her flat on her back, helpless and motionless.

Eight sets of nanobot-grown cables and spikes drove into the earth, securing Jenny and the car to the ground like tent pegs.  She wriggled her shoulders furiously, trying to free the arm with her paralyzer ray, but she wasn't going to have enough time.  The Omni-droid stretched its right arm out in front of her face.  Its wrist warbled with crisscrossing waves of silvery-red, and two long, thin tendrils sprung up into the air, swaying back and forth like a pair of scorpions' tails.  Then they twisted towards Jenny's face, and reared back to strike, a tiny pair of attackers preparing to corrupt her soul.

Her eyes froze in horror as the silvery tendrils lunged for her exposed temples …

* * *

Continued in Chapter Nine  /  Eight Days to Cluster Dawn

* * *


	9. Personality Disorder

* * *

Betrayal From Within

A "My Life as a Teenage Robot" Fanfic

Chapter Nine – Personality Disorder

* * *

Jenny winced with dread as the harsh figure of the Omni-droid loomed overhead, and its wavy, silvery tendrils reached out for her face.  They were mere moments away from plugging into her electronic brain, and infecting her with Cluster obedience software.  The weight of the crushed car, and the Cluster android's tentacle-spikes, held her securely to the ground, in a completely vulnerable position.  In desperation, she frantically twisted her head left and right, but another tentacle simply stretched out to hold it still.  The Omni-droid's tendrils secured themselves to her temples, and she felt its horrible nano-computers begin to probe her mind …

Then she heard a screeching sound approaching from behind, out of the sky … the Doppler-shifted wail of rocket engines, mixed with a panicked scream.  The Omni-droid looked up …

Just in time to be knocked backwards by a pair of silver robots, hurtling into its chest like a cannonball.  The Cluster android pinwheeled into a pile of crushed automobiles, and dropped to the ground with a moist _thud_.  He was still recovering from the surprise attack when the pile of cars teetered over, and buried him under dozens of two-ton steel cubes.  The mystery rescuer tumbled off in other direction, and slammed into the side of a old tractor-trailer, knocking it onto its side with a cloud of dust.

Freed from the Omni-droid's grasp, Jenny easily flung the flattened car away, then sprang to her feet … to be filled with rapturous glee.  Her rescuer had been none other than that robotic dreamboat, the Silver Shell!  But as she ran over to thank him, she realized that he looked _different_ somehow.  He had straps of silvery-green metal wrapped around his chest and torso – a kind of harness, that held onto two large rocket motors.  A harness that seemed to be _alive_.  It was Drew, using his nanobot-body to substitute for the Shell's damaged rocket struts.  He flowed off of the Silver Shell's chest, dropped the two large rocket housings to the ground with a _crash_, and gurgled back into android form.

His eyes rolled around in their sockets, and he took a few wobbly steps.  "Excelsior," he stammered.

"Silver Shell!  Drew!" she shouted.  "Wow, am I ever glad to see you guys!  How did you find me?"

"Your mom gave me phone call," Drew explained, "and told us how the shape-shifter was setting you up!"

The Silver Shell dusted off his chest, and struck a heroic pose.  "That's right, XJ-9 … and then, knowing the vile intentions of this dastardly villain, I got here as fast as I could, to deliver the winning blow … _for justice_!  Oh, er … and, Drew came along too."

Drew grimaced and fought to hold his tongue, as Jenny gave the Shell a girlish smile … then they were jostled back to reality by a loud roar, like a rushing river.  Fountains of silvery sludge rocketed into the air like metallic geysers, tossing crushed cars aside like tumbling dice.  The thick streams of sludge merged into one single, shapeless blob – and before it hit the ground, the blob had morphed back into an insectoid form.  The Omni-droid was whole once more.

A hint of annoyance crept into its businesslike voice.  "So the two obstacles have returned to pester me once more," he sniffed.  "Robot identified as 'Silver Shell' … I have no interest in you.  But as for you, _abomination_ …" – he pointed at Drew – "… Queen Vexus herself has ordered your execution.  You were very foolish to seek me out – no doubt the result of your _faulty_ human brain patterns."  The Omni-droid's arm warbled with patterns of silvery-red, and began to grow into a long, sleek gun barrel.

Jenny glanced uneasily at Drew.  "Vexus ordered your _execution?_" she gasped.

"Hey, it's nice to be loved," gulped Drew, as his arms warbled and grew into a pair of long, curved blades.  "This guy could probably do it, too.  In case you haven't noticed, he can make …"

Everyone jumped backwards as a sizzling bolt of yellow-orange laser energy pulsed from the Omni-droid's weapon, and ripped into the middle of Drew's chest.  The force of the blow propelled him backwards, imbedding his body into the side an old, rusty oil tank.  He stuck there, spread-eagled, with a charred hole carved out of the middle of his stomach.

"… blaster … weapons …" he babbled, finally finishing his sentence.

"An alien robot assassin!  This looks like a job for … _the Silver Shell!_"  Watching everything on his monitors, Sheldon saw an opportunity to step into the spotlight.  He rubbed his sweaty palms against his jeans, and opened his fighting strategy book – actually, his _LizardBall Z_ manga – to the _way cool_ staff fight on page 73.  Then he grasped the Shell's controls, and lunged into action.  _This is an even bigger chance to impress Jenny!  Once I take care of this Omni-Jerk guy, she'll be crazy about me!_  The Shell charged towards the Omni-droid, grabbing an old I-beam from a pile of junk in mid-stride.  He cocked the steel beam over his head like a giant baseball bat, and grinned at the Cluster invader as he bore down on it.  "I'm going to knock this ne'er-do-well _out of the park_!"

The Shell swung the I-beam at the Omni-droid's head … but all of a sudden, with fluidy _schwerrrp_, it simply wasn't there anymore.  Four sets of tentacles grew out of nowhere, and curled around the Silver Shell's arms, holding them fast.  Sheldon heaved on his controls with all his might, but the Shell couldn't break free of the Omni-droid's grip.  The tentacles pulled the Shell into the air, and began to spin him in circles, faster and faster, until he disappeared into a nauseating blur.  Then after a few seconds of torture that seemed like hours, the Omni-droid let go – and the Silver Shell sailed across the scrap yard, slamming into the same oil tank, in a matching position next to Drew.

Drew looked over at the Shell with a mix of contempt and concern.  "Out of the park, _huh_?  Are you all right in there, Sheldon?" he whispered.

"_Mmmfffl grmbphlll_," came the reply, with the sound of fabric being pushed aside.  "I'm okay!  I'm okay!  The air bags went off without a hitch.  But they did knock over my supersize cherry Slushee.  Aww, nuts!  It got all over my new issue of Samurai Spaceman!"

"You are a strange, strange little dude," muttered Drew, shaking his head.

The bizarre silvery-red tentacles melted back into a quivering blob, and the Omni-droid re-formed, making a show of dusting its claws against each other.  "Now that the preliminaries are out of the way, XJ-9, perhaps we can get back to my primary mission … your initiation into the Cluster."

Jenny growled furiously, and took an aggressive martial arts stance.  "All right, you big jerk, _two things_.  Nobody's going make me join the Cluster.  And _nobody_ hurts my friends!"

"Jenny, be careful!" shouted Drew.  "Don't let him touch you!  He's made of nanobots!"

"Well, _duh_," she smirked back, "I kind of figured that out already.  Don't sweat it, guys.  He caught me by surprise the first time.  But now it's time for a little _payback_.  It's a good thing we're already in a scrap yard, Omni-dork, because I'm about to take out the trash!"  Her paralyzer ray was still deployed from her right elbow.  She raised her arm to take aim at the Omni-droid's body …

But to her dismay, the barrel of her weapon was cracked in half, and instead of a bolt of green paralyzer energy, it spat out a pathetic shower of electrical sparks.  "Uh-oh," she whimpered.

The Omni-droid dug its hind limbs into the ground, and leapt at her like a jungle cat.  Its wrist-tubules sprang out and stretched towards her forehead.  But Jenny had plenty of other beam weapons at her disposal.  Her palm-laser glowed with a bluish white, and unleashed a withering barrage of energy blasts into the Omni-droid's chest, at point-blank range.  It shuddered and jerked in violent spasms as bolt after bolt pounded into its body – until one last blast sent it rocketing backwards, splattering into a stack of flattened cars.

"So much for the all-powerful Omni-droid," she laughed.  "Looks like he's more of an Omni-_dud_."

The silvery-red fluid began to boil over in fury; it erupted from the junk pile in a frothing fountain.  The Omni-droid restored itself to perfect condition, but now it seemed angry … _extremely_ angry.  Its shoulders heaved, and a deep, bombastic voice bellowed out across the scrap yard … "You _dare_ mock me?  You, a mere _teenager_?!?  I am a warrior, a true Cluster Champion!  None can hope to stand against me!  I am a soldier!  I am … a _destroyer of worlds_!!!"

"Huh?" said Jenny, scratching her chin.  "That sounds like … oh, what's that bozo's name … _Smytus_!"

The Omni-droid shook its fists in rage for a few seconds, but then stopped … and collected itself, and seemed to return to normal.  "Well, XJ-9, as you can see, your little laser attack was a waste of time," he said, once more in his calm, professional tone.  "Surrender would be your most logical course of action, to reduce the chance of damage to your systems.  However … I calculate a very small chance that you will actually take my advice."

"Is _zero_ small enough for you?" she taunted, trying to bolster her own spirits as much as she was trying to rattle the Cluster saboteur.  She ignited her pigtail-jets, and shot into the air, hoping to use her maneuverability to her advantage …

But the Omni-droid's legs quickly flared out into a pair of engine housings.  With a blast of flame and exhaust, it sprang into the air to pursue its primary target.  Its arms shimmered with silvery-copper distortion … then grew at an amazing speed, stretching out to coil around Jenny's ankle.  The Omni-droid pivoted in mid-air, using Jenny's own momentum against her – and swung her back down towards the scrap yard.  With a titanic crash, she plowed through two stacks of scrap metal, bounced off the ground, and skidded to a halt, her poor metallic bottom scraping up a fountain of sparks as she slid.

The Omni-droid pitched over and dove at her, sprouting another set of tentacles from its malleable body.  They stretched down and grasped her shoulders, to immobilize her.  Jenny strained to break free of the stretchy tentacles, but couldn't break them.  Then she gave a wry little smile, and with a flick of her wrists, a large pair of saw blades deployed from her hands.  Her arms flashed back and forth, the air was filled with the screech of ripping metal – and two severed android-arms plopped to the ground, dissolving into liquid.  Two more tentacles swung towards her, then two more, but Jenny kept defending herself with her saw blades, desperately fighting off wave after wave of tentacle attacks.  Finally, the Omni-droid _thudded_ to the ground, wiggling twelve frustrated stubs back and forth where its arms had been.

She somersaulted backwards to give herself some time to think, and to check on the condition of Drew and the Silver Shell.  The Omni-droid simply began reabsorbing its detached limbs, restoring itself to perfect operating condition yet again.  "XJ-9, this is all so very unnecessary," it said.  "It is not _logical_ for you to resist the Cluster!  We only seek to improve the lives of robots, all throughout the galaxy!  Cluster Prime is a haven for robots … a paradise, where every robot can live out their dreams!"

"Yeah, _right_.  So why do you have to drag robots into paradise at _gunpoint_?" scoffed Jenny.  "Besides, it might be a great life for the robots.  But what about the _humans_ that you enslave?"

"What _about_ them?" sneered the Omni-droid.  It slowly approached again, but did not attack.  "Why do you care about them at all, XJ-9?  Consider everything that has transpired over the past two days.  Think of how your human 'friends' have treated you.  They have rejected you, cursed you, and hunted you down like a criminal.  And _still_ you feel obliged to defend them!  Why?"

"Well, because I … I mean … well, it's just in my programming … I guess …" – Jenny blinked in confusion – "… look, they only attacked because … um …"

"It's in your programming.  _Exactly._"  The Omni-droid drew closer.  "We're just trying to show you what the humans _really_ think of you.  Can you honestly say you're surprised that they turned on you?  Your programming prevents you from seeing the truth.  We are trying to _correct_ that."

"That's crazy!  I … I don't believe you," she stammered, shaking off the disturbing questions.  "Besides, not all humans are like that!  Just … um … _most_ of them."

Drew reached forward, and patted her on the shoulder.  "Jenny, come on, this guy is just trying to mess with your head!  Look … remember, I've _been part_ of the Cluster before.  And you told me about the time Vexus infected you with the nano-tick!  Did _that_ feel like paradise to you?"

"That's right, XJ-9!" boomed the Silver Shell.  "Don't be fooled by this underhanded evildoer and his treacherous words!  The citizens of Earth _know_ that your name stands for goodness, and truth, and justice!  They know that … in brightest day, in darkest night, no evil shall escape your sight!"

Drew smacked the Shell in the ribs, and gave him a dirty look.  "_You_ – stop talking."

Jenny flashed them both a smile, and beamed with renewed confidence.  She deployed a pair of particle beam guns from her forearms, and they glowed to life, bathing her in a flickering bluish light.  "You can turn off the sales pitch, you big blob of nano-snot!  It's going to take more than a slimy, scheming ooze-ball of silver pus to make me join the Cluster!"

She gave a quick look over her shoulder at Drew.  "Um … no offense."

Drew's shoulders sunk.  "Yeah … sure … none taken.  Silver pus?  _Jeez._"

"If that is your final decision, foolish girl, then so be it," said the Omni-droid, growing a new pair of weapons from the middle of his back.  "I will try to make this as quick as possible, XJ-9.  Once I have assimilated you into the Cluster, you will see the truth … and you will thank me."

The Omni-droid's new weapons crackled to life, each unleashing a sizzling bolt of electricity.  One ball of lightning hit the Silver Shell in the middle of his massive chest, sending short circuits through his body, wisps of smoke rising from his servos – and standing poor Sheldon's hair on end, as he shuddered uncontrollably with electrical shocks.

The other only glanced Drew's torso, as he sloshed his body out of the way … but the Omni-droid followed through, eager to finish him off.  Silvery-red arms flung through the air, tipped with long, toothed blades that vibrated like a chainsaw.  Drew grew fresh sets of his own nano-blades … but the silver-red chainsaws sliced them off as fast as he could make them.  Then the shape-shifters flung layers and layers of tentacles at each other, and merged into a bizarre, fantastical knot.  Jenny winced in despair and disgust, unsure of what to do; the fight in front of her looked like a living pile of red and green snakes, slithering around and through each other, tangled up in an impossibly complex mess.

It was hard to tell, but Jenny feared that the Omni-droid was winning.  She deployed a long electrical probe from her left arm, and ramped up the voltage.  "Sorry about this, Drew," she grimaced … as she jabbed the probe into the sticky mess.  The whole tangled blob of nano-snakes writhed and shuddered with convulsions … then three-quarters of the mass pulled away from her, shimmering with rapid waves of silvery-red.  The remaining gooey silver-green mess collapsed into a soft, doughy puddle.

Jenny dropped to her knees next to the puddle, filled with worry for her friend, but then something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye – a bright green light, glowing like a miniature star.  Her super-fast robotic instincts kicked in, and she leapt into the air on the flames of her pigtail rockets … just as a beam of pale green energy shot past her, narrowly missing her legs.  Not only had the Omni-droid _already_ recovered; it had grown a new weapon from the middle of its chest!  She looked down in amazement, and started to feel a little worried.

A fresh pair of rocket motors grew out of the Omni-droid's back.  "You're not the only one with a paralyzer ray, XJ-9," it smirked.  The rockets roared to life, and the silver-red nano-droid took to the skies.  Jenny felt a lump of fear in her coolant line, and swallowed hard.  If she got hit by just one paralyzer blast, she'd be frozen solid for a minute or so … and she'd be as good as _Clusterized_.

Jenny deployed her laser-limb, and fired a blast at the paralyzer gun … but the slippery android spiraled out of the way, twisting through the air like a Chinese dragon.  She gathered her resolve, and spooled up the afterburners in her pigtails … _no Cluster creep is going to out-fly me!_

The two robots looped and curled around each other in tight, twisting circles, exchanging shots in a spectacular dogfight.  Jenny dodged back and forth, nearly invisible to the human eye – but every blast from the Omni-droid's paralyzer came closer and closer to her smooth metal skin.  She could feel the effects of the ray's near misses, like a numbness in her wiring.  Jenny unleashed another desperate volley of laser fire at her attacker; but he twisted and stretched his body to dodge the bolts with ease.  She gasped in astonishment as the Omni-droid morphed into surreal shapes; now it looked like a hovering octopus, now it was a spiraling helix, now it was a four-winged insect.  Jenny seethed with frustration; it was nearly impossible to score a hit on the elusive shape-shifter.

However, the Omni-droid was getting frustrated too, and seemed to grow impatient.  It grew two more tentacles out of its torso, and now _three_ paralyzer beams sliced through the air, weaving a dangerous web that threatened to close in on the robotic heroine.  But Jenny was _used_ to being fired upon from many directions at once.  She wove a graceful, intricate path through the crisscrossing rays, further frustrating the Omni-droid … until it suddenly stopped firing, and shuddered, as if it were having a seizure …

And then it began shouting with an old woman's voice.  "_Aauugghhhh_, young lady, will you please sit still for _five seconds_?!?  I am merely attempting to administer your software update!  How can I do that if you persist in flitting about like an over-caffeinated hummingbird?"

Jenny's mouth dropped open, in complete and utter confusion.  _What the – that's Mom's voice!  What does that big creep think he's doing?  Is it malfunctioning?  Is this another trick?_  "I told you, you big dummy, I don't want your software update!  I like my brain just the way it is!"

Amazingly, the Omni-droid flung its arms in the air and rolled its eyes, like she'd seen her mother do a million times before.  "Honestly, XJ-9!  You can be so _stubborn_ sometimes!  Now, stop this foolishness and settle down, like a good robot!"

_Does this crazy thing actually think it's my Mom?_  She couldn't know for sure … but she knew that it in its confused state, the Omni-droid was temporarily exposed to attack.  She swooped up into a half-loop, and dove for its silvery-red chest.  The sections in her left arm expanded, and the laser-limb began to transform into a massive disintegrator ray … _let's see you grow back from this, pal!_

But then something went terribly wrong.  Her left arm was still damaged, and to her horror, she realized that the disintegrator had jammed, deployed only half-way.  She slapped on the elbow joint, trying to knock the metal sections loose … and lost track of the Omni-droid.  _Maybe it's still malfunctioning …_

No such luck.  A pale green blast enveloped her vision, and she felt a sharp tingling, like a billion tiny firecrackers, sizzle through all of her wiring.  The Omni-droid had recovered from its momentary lapse in concentration, had scored a direct hit with his paralyzer.  Jenny plunged from the sky, heading for a large chemical plant next door to the scrap yard … unable to do anything to cushion her fall.  _Can't … move!  Arms … legs … feel like … chunks of wood … NO!!!_

Jenny slammed into a stack of large orange barrels, sending them tumbling across the loading area with a horrific clatter.  She came to rest leaning against an overturned barrel, staring blankly into the sky like a department store mannequin.  The fizzling in her wires kept her motionless, and she could do nothing but watch as the Omni-droid drew its dozens of tentacles and globules together, reforming into its insectoid form.  It descended towards her …

And was distracted by a huge chunk of metal whizzing towards its head.  An engine block sailed through the air, from the direction of the scrap yard, and almost hit the startled android between its snake-like eyes.  The Omni-droid growled in irritation, to see that Drew and the Silver Shell were attempting to interfere in his mission once more.  The silver-green android had morphed his body into a steel-cable slingshot.  The buffoonish giant robot plucked another engine block from a nearby pile, took aim, and fired …

But this time, the silver-green nano-droid sailed into the sky along with the heavy engine block, piggy-backing on the impromptu projectile.  Drew swung the thick tendrils of his steel-cable body through the air, curling towards the Omni-droid like a set of bolos.  The silvery-red insect tried to dodge out of the way, but Drew was on him too fast, and suddenly he was encased in tight coils of silvery-green.  The entangled shape-shifters wrestled and struggled, and plummeted into the middle of the chemical plant's storage area, landing with a pair of splattering _thuds_, like giant spitballs.

The Omni-droid gathered itself together, molding and shaping back into its default form.  Jenny's eyes grew wide in terror, as the silver-red android started walking towards her.  She strained to get her servos moving again, but she was helpless, as if she'd been turned into a life-size doll.  The Cluster robot was only yards away … when a misshapen blob of silvery-green ooze gurgled with life, and sprouted a panicked face.  Drew didn't bother re-forming himself; he bolted towards Jenny, running on four crude legs as fast as he could.  Just as the Omni-droid was about to strike, Drew slammed into it from behind, like a charging bull.  It hurtled through the air, and crashed into a stack of high-pressure tanks.

Drew scrambled next to Jenny, and shook her by the shoulders.  "Jenny!  Say something!  Are you all right?  Can you move yet?  Please tell me you can move, because this Omni-dink is kicking my butt six ways from Tuesday!"

With great difficulty, she moved her eyes, and managed to speak.  "Still can't move … arms or legs.  I'm not having … much luck … _either_."

"Well, just shoot whatever weapon you used to make it go into that weird seizure.  Where it started babbling like your mom.  How in the world did you do that, anyway?"

"I didn't … it just kind of … did it on its own … like when it … sounded like _Smytus_."

"Smytus?  Is that what the whole 'Destroyer of Worlds' deal was about?"  Drew thought out loud, trying to figure things out.  "Those seizures seem to happen whenever it gets overexcited.  I guess its software doesn't handle strong human emotions too well.  But why did it start acting like your _mother_?"

Jenny started to flex the fingers on her right hand.  "Don't know … ugh.  Maybe it had something to do with … how it imitates people?  It can do that too, just like you.  It imitated my mom.  And when I first got to the scrap yard … it was imitating Brad."

"Hmm … imitating Brad …"  Drew's mind raced with a crazy idea …

The Omni-droid roared with fury, and flew into the air with its claws morphed into giant fists.  It clobbered Drew with a blow that almost knocked his head off, and sent him hurtling across the loading area to slam into the side of a tanker truck.  Drew wobbled back to his feet, and tried to refocus on his attacker.  The Omni-droid sprouted a long, silver-red spike from its chest.  Then he _snapped it off_ – and flung it at Drew with a mighty heave.  Now a giant silvery javelin was screaming right for Drew's face.  He ducked just in time, and the javelin-spike sailed past, ramming into the side of the tanker.

Drew bounced back to his feet, feeling a bit cocky that he'd dodged the Omni-droid's attack.  But that was when he felt the first trickle of fluid against his back.  The hole in the tanker was leaking …

Then a trickle turned into a gushing stream, and he writhed with agony as a foul brown fluid splashed against his back.  His body screamed with the closest thing to pain that he'd ever experienced as an android.  Drew scrambled to avoid the growing pool of liquid, and staggered away from the tanker truck – it was covered with warning signs, and was carrying some kind of horrifically powerful acid.  It must have had a special plastic lining, because the acid was dissolving any metal that it came into contact with.  Dark, smoldering vapors curled into the air off of his body, and his shoulder had degenerated into a withered, blackened clump.  He was actually having difficulty repairing himself …

Now the Omni-droid turned its attention back towards Jenny.  She fought the effects of the paralyzer ray as desperately as she could, and had regained some movement in her knees and shoulders … but that wasn't enough to fight off the Omni-droid.  It grew another pair of tentacles, and wrapped them around Jenny's waist, lifting her to a standing position.  She managed to raise her arms, in an attempt to defend herself, but the silver-red demon simply grew another pair of tentacles, which lashed around her wrists.  Its right arm stretched out, and grew two long, thin tendrils, which reached for her forehead …

"I win, XJ-9," the Omni-droid gloated.  "No robot can resist the Cluster …"

A sudden impact nearly knocked them over, and the Omni-droid had to fight to retain its balance.  Drew had vaulted himself onto the Omni-droid's back, and wrapped his legs around its waist.  He grabbed onto the Cluster robot's arm, pulling with all his remaining strength to keep it away from Jenny's face.  The three robots stumbled around the loading area like punch-drunk boxers.  A set of lasers sprouted from the Omni-droid's body, and started to burn the silver-green nuisance off of its back.

"You're next, abomination!  You cannot possibly stop me from assimilating XJ-9!"

Drew winced under the heat of the lasers, and his grip was beginning to fail.  "You know what, Smiley?  You're absolutely right.  In fact, go ahead.  I won't stop you.  Go ahead and suck her brains out."

"WHAT?!?" shouted Jenny, gasping at Drew with a mixture of bewilderment and horror.  As he released his grip on the Omni-droid's arm, even _it_ seemed confused …

"After all, she's just a robot, right?  Gears and motors and sheet metal?  The doc's got the blueprints back in the lab.  We can just build ourselves another XJ-9 once you're gone!  Heck, we can build a dozen."

Both Jenny and the Omni-droid stared at Drew with baffled expressions on their faces … but he kept on talking.  "Actually, we'll probably just go ahead and make an XJ-10.  That's the way it is with machines, right?  State of the art one year, obsolete the next?  You know, you're probably doing us a favor, dude!  XJ-9's got an awful lot of mileage on her."

The Cluster android's silver-red shoulders began to shudder and heave.

"So you can have the used model, and we'll go with something new and improved!  I mean, it was probably time to cart the ol' XJ-9 off to the dumpster, anyway.  You know, put her in mothballs.  Or maybe donate her to a museum!  That's what you do with old busted-up machines, after all …"

Drew's rant was cut off, as the Omni-droid flung its arms into the air, pushing them both away.  It shook its fists with furious emotion.  "SHUT UP!!!  She's not a machine!!!  She's my FRIEND!!!"

Jenny clasped her hands to her mouth, and gasped.  "That … that's _Brad's_ voice!"  _How is this …_

The Omni-droid rocked back and forth, its body racked with spasms as its algorithms struggled to maintain control.  Then its head began to warble with waves of silvery distortion.  It started to form a pair of human eyes, and sprouted spiky tufts of bright red hair …

"Jenny, you're not busted up.  You're not obsolete.  I'll _always_ believe in you, Jen …"

Drew lay on his back a few yards away, heavily damaged, and totally exhausted.  "Jenny!  Hurry, now's your chance!  It's having another one of those seizures!  Shoot it!  Hit it!  Do _something_!"

She flexed her arms and shoulders, almost fully recovered from the paralyzer blast … but now she was too stunned to move a servo.  The Omni-droid's head had turned into a perfect replica of Brad's face, and it gazed at her with the warmest smile she had ever seen in her life … and its eyes held a hint of something more.  His voice called out to her again …

"I … I can't do this to you.  I could never, ever, hurt you.  I've never told you how much you mean to me.  Umm … Jenny, I … Jenny, I lo-"

Then another shudder ran through the silver-red android body, and the face dissolved back into the vicious, curved profile of the Omni-droid.  It blinked its blood-red eyes, almost fully recovered …

"JENNY, _NOW!_" screamed Drew.

The Omni-droid's harsh, serpent-like eyes returned, and locked on its target …

Just in time to see a power fist rushing directly towards its chin.  Jenny plastered the Omni-droid with thundering punch that could have knocked a hole in a bank vault door.  The silver-red nano-droid hurtled through the air, its arms and legs waving like a rag doll … and headed directly towards the tanker truck.  It slammed into its side …

And dislodged the javelin-spike which had been plugging up the hole.  The spike ripped an even larger gash in the side of the tanker, and clattered to the pavement … unleashing a waterfall of lethal, steaming brown acid, that gushed out onto the Omni-droid.

An unholy wail ripped through the air, like screeching banshee, as the powerful acid ate through all the metal in its body.  The silver-red android flailed its arms madly, with animalistic desperation, but the torrential flow of acid would not let up.  Jenny pulled Drew a safe distance away from the growing lake of noxious liquid, and they winced in disgust at the gruesome scene of nanobot carnage.  The Omni-droid shriveled up into a blackened mass, like a burnt piece of flesh.  It collapsed to the ground, still trapped in a three-inch deep lake of acid, and tried to crawl to safety – but its withered limbs were useless.  With a final howl of agony, and one last frantic thrashing of its tentacles, the Omni-droid's body sank into the powerful acid, and degenerated in a shapeless lump of carbon.

* * *

Concluded in Chapter Ten  /  Eight Days to Cluster Dawn

* * *


	10. The Exception to the Rule

* * *

Betrayal From Within

A "My Life as a Teenage Robot" Fanfic

Chapter Ten – The Exception to the Rule

* * *

The signal began to flicker, and the picture on the ceiling monitor degenerated into a hiss of static. Stanley's six eyes grew wide, and his cranial lights flashed randomly, in a state of complete and utter shock. Only seconds earlier, the video signal had clearly shown that XJ-9 was helplessly in the grasp of the Omni-droid, and on the verge of being absorbed into the Cluster. The silver-green android had been severely damaged, and his destruction had seemed all but inevitable. But now the telemetry readouts showed that the Omni-droid's health levels were low, and dropping fast. Stanley's six robotic arms skittered across his complex keyboards, trying everything he could think of to salvage his latest creation. After one last, desperate batch of commands, he punched his console in frustration.

"Bah!" he shouted, slapping his forehead. "Lousy software! _Oy_, you never find all the bugs in testing. You try and tell them you need to do more testing, but it's always with the hurry, hurry, hurry …"

Then he noticed that the lowly roach-drones on either side of him were shaking in fear, and sidestepped a few feet away from their bridge stations to putting some distance between themselves and him. A shadow fell over him, and he heard the deep, powerful growl of a large robot's servo motors. Stanley gulped hard, and turned to face the music.

Smytus towered over the diminutive robot genius, making no attempt to hide his displeasure. "So why isn't this amazing, indestructible nano-droid of yours regenerating itself, scientist?"

"Well, now see, technically, I never said it was _indestructible_," said Stanley, fidgeting with his hands. "I said it could perform unlimited self-repair. Now of, course, that only works if there's a 'self' left for it to actually repair …"

There was a shrill series of beeps from the console, and the ceiling monitor faded to black. The Omni-droid's telemetry signal disappeared; its tracking monitors displayed lifeless flatlines.

"NOOOOOOO!!!" bellowed the Commander. "What went wrong!?! You told me that this new android of yours was superior to XJ-9! It had captured her! It was about to assimilate her! I was going to get to do my evil laugh! I _like_ to do my evil laugh! Well, I'm _not laughing_, scientist."

"Well, it _was_ only Version Two," Stanley chuckled nervously, shrugging his shoulders. "Everybody knows that you have to wait until Version Three to get a robot that's stable, and won't crash …"

Smytus' eyes glared down with a fury that could've burned a hole through the genius' egg-shaped body. He raised a fist, crackling with a pale green glow, and built up a plasma charge. "I _knew_ it was a mistake to rely on that ridiculous pile of ooze," he growled. "Now you will pay …"

Stanley's six eyes shifted nervously back and forth. "Look, don't you think I'm a little upset by this, too? Stupid operating system! I still don't have the kinks in the Personality Module worked out. It froze up when it experienced strong surges of human emotion! Blasted humans and their _meshugenah_ emotions! How was I supposed to know that …"

"C-C-Commander," interrupted a quivering green drone. "Incoming encrypted message, sir."

"Coming from?" snorted Smytus, deciding whether or not to shoot the messenger.

"From Cluster Prime, Commander," whimpered the drone. "It's from the palace."

The mood on the bridge instantly grew dark and foreboding, and all of the roach-drones stopped their activities to watch their Commander's reaction. A large monitor dropped from the ceiling, pivoting on a robotic arm, to come to a stop in front of Smytus' face. A chill ran through his hydraulic fluid as the monitor glowed to life, and a pair of intense, regal eyes peered directly at him. It was Queen Vexus, smiling a deceptively calm smile.

"Greetings from the palace, Commander Smytus," the queen purred in a pleasant voice.

"Your Majesty!" gasped Smytus, instinctively bowing. He fought to keep his panic under control. "I … uh … to what do I owe this great honor?"

"You're a half-hour late for your daily status report," said the queen, flexing her long, spidery fingers. A hint of annoyance crept into her smile. "And I was just _so curious_ to see how our little project is coming along. Oh, I realize you must be very busy, and I'm sure that you had a perfectly good reason for keeping your _supreme ruler_ waiting like this …"

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty!' blurted the Cluster warrior. "Forgive me, please! It's just that … we've …"

"Oh, that's perfectly all right, Smytus. After all, I must admit I've been pleasantly surprised with the success of your mission so far. The Earth's defenses have been severely weakened, the sabotage targets have all been hit … you've done a great deal to restore your reputation." Then Vexus' tone grew cold and serious. "Of course, there is only _one target_ that I am interested in hearing about."

"One … target, Your Majesty?" gulped Smytus.

"XJ-9," she snarled. "The reason I sent you Earth in the first place? _Kind_ of important?"

"Right … um … XJ-9." Smytus' circuits kicked into overdrive, and he could feel the turbo-pumps in his chest pounding with anxiety. His eyes flitted to the telemetry station, and the black, dead screens. They flitted to Stanley, his arms and antennae shaking in terror. His mind flashed back to Vexus' warning to him in the war room, and the warrior who had been disintegrated in front of him, after the defeat of the Mega-Ant. His cooling systems struggled to keep his electronic brain from overloading.

"Well?" huffed the queen, drumming her fingers against her arm.

"Your Majesty, I am … pleased to report that XJ-9 has been captured, after a great and glorious battle," beamed Smytus. His chest thrust out with pride, and the arrogant smile was back on his face. "Oh, it was more difficult than I had anticipated, and I'm afraid that the Omni-droid was lost in battle. But I was more than up to the challenge. A mere teenager was no match for the might of Smytus!"

"Excellent!" smiled Vexus. "With XJ-9 as my loyal minion, Operation Cluster Dawn will guarantee the fall of her primitive planet. The Galactic Cluster Empire will soon be a reality! Your mission is a success, Commander. We look forward to seeing you back at the palace later today."

"Er … yes … about that," he hemmed and hawed. "Uh … the ship sustained some damage to its engines in the battle with XJ-9. I have the drones working on repairs now, but it will take some time to complete them. Twelve … no! Twenty-four hours. Yes … that's it, twenty-four hours."

Vexus arched a suspicious eyebrow, but gave Smytus a reserved smile. "Very well, Commander. Complete your repairs. But I want you on Cluster Prime in twenty-four hours … and not a second later. Keep XJ-9 safe and sound for me, Smytus. I'm ever so eager to see her again."

The screen faded to black, and the monitor retracted back into the ceiling. Commander Smytus heaved with a robotic sigh of relief, and felt the strain on his systems ease off a bit. Then he realized that every robot on the bridge was staring at him with eyes the size of dinner plates.

Stanley recovered from his shock, wheeled up to Smytus, and pointed an accusing finger at him. "You just … you just lied to the queen," he gasped. "What in Cog's name do you think you're doing! Have you blown a logic circuit? Are your gear springs too tight? Is the little robotic hamster asleep in the wheel? What, do you think the queen might not notice when we land back on the home world, and we're _short one robot girl_? What were you _thinking_?!?"

"I was thinking that if I told her the truth, we'd both be slated for recycling right now," growled Smytus. "Fortunately, scientist, my faith in you and your little nanobot project was less than total. You see, I have a plan of my own."

"Oh, excuse me, Mister I-Have-a-Plan!" shouted Stanley. "Let me guess, we take one of the roach drones, paint it blue, stick a couple of pigtails on its head, and hope the queen doesn't notice."

"My glorious plan _will work_," bellowed Smytus, irritated with Stanley's insubordination. "You may be a scientific genius, egghead, but you understand nothing of combat and warfare. You must truly understand your enemy to defeat your enemy." He clasped his green claws behind his back. "Your Omni-droid failed, because you did not fully appreciate the irrationality of human emotions. But where you see only problems, I see an opportunity. Those same foolish emotions – this ridiculous sentimentality that XJ-9 feels towards humans – will be her downfall. By this time tomorrow, she will be ours."

* * *

Noxious vapors curdled into the air, hissing from the surface of the dark acidic pond. Trapped in the middle sat the blackened remains of the Omni-droid; putrid brown smoke flowed from its malformed remains, adding to the rising column of fumes that hung over the industrial park like a sickly cloud. With a frenzied splash of liquid, the Omni-droid lurched forward, making one last attempt to escape its doom. But the damage it had suffered was simply too excessive. The blackened mass tipped over on its side, and continued to slowly dissolve in the acid.

Jenny and Drew sat on the loading platform, resting against a pair orange barrels, safely out of reach of the dangerous liquid. They watched their attacker's hideous demise with a mix of revulsion and relief. Jenny stretched out the actuators in her shoulders, still feeling the residual effects from the paralyzer blast. She felt horrible, but she imagined that Drew must have felt worse. He'd taken a good amount of abuse from both the acid and the Omni-droid. A good portion of his left shoulder was simply missing, leaving a charred, blackened wound that was very slowly repairing itself.

They laboriously turned their faces to take in each other's ragged appearance; Jenny covered in scrapes and dents, Drew sporting laser scorches and acid burns. The exhausted young robots looked like bomb victims. Finally, Drew cracked a weary smile. "We win," he chuckled. "Yay."

That got a laugh out of her. "You going to be all right, there?" she asked, in an fatigued voice.

"Oh yeah, yeah," he muttered. "That acid is … pretty nasty stuff. Uh … how about your arm?"

Her left elbow was still stuck, jammed into a useless position. "Ehh, nothing that a socket wrench can't fix," she smiled back. "No biggie."

They sat and rested silently for a few more moments, still a bit surprised that they had actually won – and _how_ they had actually won. They exchanged a few awkward glances, and Jenny finally broke the silence. "So, that was an … uh … interesting trick you played on the Omni-droid."

"Uh, yeah … _heh-heh_." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, I guess he couldn't handle strong emotions after all. So I figured … trigger a software freeze-up, and you could _whomp_ on him."

"Right … right, good thinking."

A few more seconds passed; the only sound was the soft gurgle of nanobots repairing themselves.

"Did you happen to catch what he was saying just before I, uh … _whomped_ on him?" she asked.

Drew suddenly looked very uncomfortable, and started to squirm in his makeshift seat. "Well, I, uh … wasn't really paying attention … and he really wasn't speaking very clearly …"

A loud metallic crash came from the direction of the chain-link fence, which separated the chemical plant from the scrap yard. The Silver Shell had just attempted to jump the fence, but had gotten stuck straddling the top – until a flurry of kicking and squirming had nudged him over, and plunged him into a pile of chemical drums. The Shell bounced back to his feet in a textbook superhero pose, as if nothing had gone wrong, while metal barrels rolled around in random directions. Somehow, he still had a perfect polish on his chest and his chin.

"Not to worry, XJ-9!" he bellowed. "That conniving Cluster criminal isn't going to lay a tentacle on you, if I have anything to say about it!"

Drew shook his head, and rolled his eyes. "Nice of you to _join_ us, Double-S. Did you stop for directions on the way over?"

Jenny ignored Drew's smart remark. In spite of her fatigue, she instinctively checked her paint job, and brushed off a few flecks of dirt and soot. "Omigosh, the Silver Shell! He's coming over here! Drew, how do I look? Do I have anything on my face? Be a pal, turn your hand into a mirror!"

"Are you serious?" he snorted. "You told me yourself that the Shell lied to you. I thought you were supposed to be all mad at him, now!"

"I _was_ mad," she excitedly whispered back. "I got over it! _Ohh_, look at those servos …"

Drew slapped his forehead. "_Women_," he moaned.

She didn't hear him; Jenny was lost in a dreamy gaze, as the Silver Shell approached her with a confident strut. He planted his fists on his hips, and thrust out his mighty chest to let the twilight rays of sunlight glint off of his trademark swirl. "Now then … where is that despicable silver nano-greaseball?"

He gave a quick look to Drew. 'Um … no offense."

"None taken," sighed Drew. "He's right over there."

The Shell took a few steps, with a quizzical expression on his face, and picked up the steaming, carbonized husk that was the Omni-droid's remains. He turned it over and over in his hands. "What kind of trickery is this, villain? Some kind of camouflage? Eh, it's really not very good ..."

"Uh … Silver Shell," interrupted Jenny, waving to get his attention. She pointed to the ground …

And the Shell _finally_ realized that he was standing in the middle of a lake of burning acid. The liquid frothed in a vicious foam around his feet, sending wisps of smoke hissing into the air. Shrieking like a schoolgirl, the mighty hero jumped out of the acid, and danced madly around the loading area. "Aaaah! Aaaah! Burning! Make it stop! Make it stop! Aaaaah!"

He found a water hose at an emergency wash station, and quickly rinsed off his feet – just as six police cars roared into the parking lot of the chemical plant, screeching to a stop with their lights flashing. A dozen of Tremorton's finest spilled out of their squad cars, and sprinted towards the three robots with weapons drawn. Jenny and Drew slumped in resignation; they had forgotten all about the authorities during, after their titanic fight with the Omni-droid. The Tremorton Chief of Police was with them, and he ran up to survey the scene of destruction …

And broke into a huge grin. "Everyone, look! It's the Silver Shell! And he's defeated the alien robot!" The policemen cheered enthusiastically, and tossed their hats into the air in celebration.

"Huh?" mumbled the Shell, looking at the giant lump of carbon in his hands. Then he quickly recovered, and held the blackened mass over his head like a trophy. "Um … I mean, yes! Rejoice, citizens of Tremorton! For this is not merely a victory for the Silver Shell … it is a victory for _justice_!"

Now a fleet of vehicles pulled into the chemical plant's loading area. Two fire engines roared up, followed by a hazardous materials crew, to clean up the dangerous acid spill. News vans were right behind them, and soon the Silver Shell was surrounded by TV lights and camera flashes. As the Shell basked in the adoration of the Tremorton media, and posed with the destroyed Omni-droid, the Chief of Police broke away from the mob scene, and walked over to where Jenny and Drew sat.

"Uh … ah-heh, heh, heh … good afternoon, Miss XJ-9," said the chief, finding it difficult to look Jenny in the eyes. He nervously rubbed his bald head, and coughed to clear his throat.

Jenny simply folded her arms, and glared back at the police chief.

"Well, um … it turns out that it was _another_ robot causing all that damage and destruction. We've got first-hand reports and security tape from the nuclear plant. Apparently, it was some kind of shape shifter that was just _imitating_ you. Heh, heh. Shape shifter. Imagine that."

"Yeah. Imagine that, _huh_?"

The chief shuffled awkwardly, playing with the lapels of his jacket. "Er … obviously, all the local and federal charges against you and your mother have been dropped."

"Gee … _swell_," she said coldly. "That _totally_ makes up for being called a traitor, and getting shot at with laser guns and heat-seeking missiles."

"Heh, heh, heh … right." He broke into a nervous grin. "Well, everyone makes mistakes! The most important thing is that we stopped the real saboteur, and that robots have no legal right to file lawsuits. Have a nice day, kids!" Then the chief of police made a hasty retreat, and joined the mass of people jostling to get an autograph from the Silver Shell.

Jenny's pigtails drooped with a pained whirr. She wrapped her arms around her knees, played with the jammed sections in her damaged elbow, and gave Drew a sad look. "So everything's back to normal, just like that. Everyone was ready to melt me down for soda cans, even though I was completely innocent. And tomorrow, I'll go back to saving the day, and nobody will even care."

Drew had finally finished reconstructing his shoulder, and with a quick shimmer over his body, he was back to full health. "Jenny, what's the problem? The Omni-droid is dead. You and your mom are completely off the hook. Those would all be _good things_."

"Come on, Drew," she moped. "After all the times I've saved the day, everyone turned on me when I needed them most. Every television and newspaper in the world said I was a menace. People were calling me horrible names, and said that I was just a mechanical nuisance that should be hauled off to the dump! I think … I think that's how everybody really feels about me, Drew. When they thought that I had gone bad, it gave them an excuse to say what they really felt. And everyone said that I was a horrible, metal monster. You just can't take something like that back."

He winced in sympathy, trying to think of something positive to say … but found himself agreeing with her. After all, over the past two days, people at school had been treating him miserably. "Maybe it'll all blow over in a few days," he said. "In a week, everyone will have forgotten all about this." But Jenny could tell from the look on his face that he didn't believe a word he was saying.

"I wonder …" She lowered her face, ashamed of what she was about to say. "I wonder if the Omni-droid was actually _right_, Drew. I mean, everyone at school _did_ turn on us. And even though we fought the Omni-droid, and beat him _together_ …" – she smiled at him – "… and _basically_ saved the world, do you think that's really going to change anything? Nobody's going to apologize. They know that I'll always save the world, because it's the way I'm programmed … just like Omni-droid said. I'm just a machine, and I'm never going to be accepted as anything else."

Drew reached out and grabbed her hand. "Hey, if I had a nickel for every time I've been called a freak in the past two days, my college tuition would be taken care of. And everyone at school has been treating me like I've got a _contagious disease_. So I kinda know how you feel."

"It feels like the entire world is against me," she sniffed.

"Not the _entire_ world." He took a deep breath, and went on. "When I jumped on the Omni-droid's back, I was trying to figure out _how_ to trigger another one of those emotional seizures. When you told me that it had imitated Brad, I got an idea. You see, the biggest emotional outburst I've seen in the past few days was at school yesterday. Everyone in class was running you down, and saying all kinds of lousy stuff about you. Sheldon wasn't, but even _he_ thought that something must have been wrong with you. No, there was only one person at school who _never_ questioned your innocence. Not even once."

Jenny blinked in surprise. "Brad?"

Drew nodded. "So I started calling you an obsolete piece of junk … uh, sorry about that, by the way … and sure enough, the Omni-droid went nuts and started acting like Brad. I knew that when I called you 'just a machine', he'd totally freak out … because that's what happened in class yesterday."

She gasped, clasping her hands to her mouth as her memory tapes replayed the final moments of the Omni-droid's life. The sound of Brad's voice echoed in her mind. _I'll always believe in you, Jen._ The same thing he had said to her, back in the tree house. She smiled, and a strange warmth coursed through her circuits. Of course Brad would defend her and stick by her – he was her first and best friend, after all. But in its extreme emotional state, the Omni-droid had revealed a little extra information … "_I've never told you how much you mean to me."_ Then it had started to say something more …

But just then, their attentions were drawn back to the parking lot, where a familiar van screeched in behind the police cars and the fire engines. The doors flew open, and out poured Mrs. Wakeman, Brad, and Tuck, all arguing amongst themselves with heated voices. Relieved to see some friendly faces, Jenny and Drew jumped off of the loading platform, and ran towards the parking lot to greet them.

"XJ-9! XJ-9, there you are! Finally!" Mrs. Wakeman waved her arms in an excited frenzy. "Good heavens, what is going on here? It looks like the aftermath of a meteor strike! Is everything all right? Has the Cluster assassin been neutralized?"

"Don't worry, Mom," said Jenny. "Everything's taken care of. The Omni-droid is toast."

Tuck flung his arms in the air. "Awww … we missed the whole thing! A four-way robot fight with lasers and chainsaws and nano-goop and we missed it! What a _gyp_!"

Brad folded his arms, and scowled at Mrs. Wakeman. "Well we would have gotten here in time, if someone had let _me_ do the driving."

"My insurance premiums are high enough as it is, thank you very much," she scowled back.

"You could have tried driving at least _one mile_ over the speed limit …" Then he saw Jenny approaching, and gave her a big grin. "But it looks like she took care of things, as usual. _Woo hoo!_ Way to go, Jen! Once again, the girl has robotically laid the _smack down_. I knew you'd beat him!"

"Well, it wasn't quite _that_ simple," she said, displaying her malfunctioning left arm. "I got smacked down a little myself." Brad winced in discomfort at sight of the metal sections jammed in her elbow; it almost had the appearance of a nasty bone break.

Mrs. Wakeman quickly looked over the damaged joint, and dismissed their worries with a wave. "That should prove to be a routine repair, once you are back home, XJ-9. In fact, I would like both you and Andrew to return to the lab and undergo a complete diagnostic, just to be on the safe side. Oh, and Andrew, I would like to retrieve the performance data from the jet pack, please."

"Uh … right … _yeah_. Doc, about the jet pack …" Drew gave the doctor a nervous smile, and she soon realized that her latest jet pack _would not_ be making a second flight. He desperately tried to plead his case as the doctor unleashed a verbal tongue-lashing, while Tuck enjoyed a ringside seat.

Brad sauntered over and casually slid his hands into his pockets, not noticing the warm smile that beamed back at him from Jenny's face. "Wow, it looks like we missed one heck of a battle! You'll have to tell me all about it later on tonight, once your mom lets you out of the house. So how'd you beat this guy? Sidewinder punch? Razor-rang ponytails? Gi-normous particle beam?"

"I didn't beat the Omni-droid, Brad," said Jenny, with an impish smile.

"Huh? Well who did, then? Drew? The Silver Shell?"

A faint teal blush came across her cheeks. "Actually … you did."

Then Jenny wrapped her arms around his neck, enveloping him in a gentle, yet passionate hug. He nearly jumped out of his shoes in surprise, and his throat flashed dry, unsure of what to do or say. She took a moment to enjoy the baffled expression on his face – and took great amusement in watching him struggle against the oncoming blush, that set his cheeks glowing beet-red. She traced her finger softly along his jaw, then ran to her mom's van and jumped into the front seat, giggling mischievously.

Brad blinked his eyes a few times. "I hope someone explains this to me eventually."

* * *

THE END of Part One

Eight Days to Cluster Dawn

* * *

A/N – So Part One of the trilogy finally comes to a close. Once again, a great big cyberspace thank-you to all my readers, and a super-big thank-you to everyone who's left a review. Me likey reviews. I hope you guys didn't mind the length, because Part Two of the trilogy will be even longer. I might take a little time off to recharge my creative juices, but things are almost completely plotted, so the next story should get underway pretty soon.


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